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A LANDLUBBER’S LOG 


OF HIS 

VOYAGE AROUND CAPE MORN. 


BEING 

A JOURNAL KEPT DURING A FOUR MONTHS’ VOYAGE 
ON AN AMERICAN MERCHANTMAN, 


BOUND FROM 


RIIILADELPHIA TO SAN FRANCISCO. 






\ 


y 


BY 


MORTON MacMICHAEL 3D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
1883. 



V 


\ 



Copyright, 1882, by MORTON MacMichael 3d. 





INTRODUCTORY. 


In launching this little volume upon the current 
of Christmas-tide literature, the author wishes to 
explain that it was not written originally with an 
eye to publication, but simply as a long letter for 
home consumption only. In that form a small 
edition was printed for private circulation, but 
without the proof-sheets having been overhauled 
and sundry errors corrected. The present edi¬ 
tion, if it has no other virtue, is at least ship¬ 
shape and correct. The only hope the author has 
of the book floating after it is launched is derived 
from the fact that “ logs,” as a rule, do float, espe¬ 
cially when they are of light material, and that 
this log is certainly the reverse of heavy. 

Philadelphia, 1882. 


5 






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A LANDLUBBER’S LOG 

OF 

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


I. 


At Sea, July 20. 


On the morning of the 7th inst., just as early 
as the coming dawn made seeing possible, the 
tugboat that had been lying alongside all night 
showed signs of life, and the newly-arrived crew 
were routed from the forecastle, where they had 
retreated to sleep away the effects of their fare¬ 
well spree on shore. The silent ship became 
enlivened with the hoarse shouts of officers and 
men, and with the rattling of cables hauled in 
from the dock or being run over to the tug along¬ 
side, and ten minutes later left her berth and was 
heading down the river Delaware. At breakfast- 
time Philadelphia was far astern, and the anchor 
had been let go in mid-stream, off the gunpowder- 
works at Wilmington, Delaware, while from two 
little sloops alongside we received the final por¬ 
tion of our cargo in the shape of several thousand 

7 



8 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


kegs and canisters of rifle powder, which elevat¬ 
ing article was, with an abandon that was far from 
reassuring to any one of nervous temperament, 
stowed away under the after-cabin and beneath 
our very feet. Ninety tons in all were at last 
safely battened down beneath the hatches, and 
the cargo made complete, but dusk was upon us, 
and we rode at anchor until the following morn¬ 
ing. Again an early start, and this time with a 
fair breeze blowing behind us, to which was spread 
sail after sail as they were dragged from their 
locker, sent aloft and bent upon the yards. At 
half-past four o’clock Cape May and Cape Hen- 
lopen were on either beam, and the pilot slid 
down a rope’s end into the little boat awaiting 
him, and waved us a God-speed. A moment later 
the ship, now a cloud of canvas, keeled to the 
pressure of the fair, fresh breeze and swept out 
upon the billows of the broad Atlantic. It was 
from this moment of passing from the bay into 
the ocean that we will compute the length of our 
voyage, and will consider it ended when we pass 
the portals of the Golden Gate, the famous en¬ 
trance to the harbor of San Francisco. 

In very nearly all the accounts that I have ever 
read of people sailing away from their homes for 
foreign lands, the characters thus outward-bound, 
when leaving port, gaze long and earnestly at the 
rapidly receding shore, while their hearts swell 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


9 


and throb with a nameless pain as the memories 
which cluster about the land they are leaving 
come rushing through their minds. How much 
pleasanter it would have been for me could I but 
have followed their example; then might I have 
written the regulation remarks about the feeling 
of sadness that stole over me, as while thinking 
of family and friends, or of the many happy mem¬ 
ories of home, the white-winged ship swiftly left 
the land. Then could I have described how it 
grew dimmer with each fleeting moment, until at 
last naught but a faint, misty, cloudlike streak hung 
on the distant horizon, and as I gazed again, that 
f. m. c. s., like unto the f. m. c. s.’s of the book-voy¬ 
agers, would have faded from my sight, while a 
single tear would have glistened for a moment on 
my cheek, and then fallen noiselessly upon the 
deck. All this might I have written had not that 
saline old nautical deity. Father Neptune, promptly 
(and with a viciousness which leads me to believe 
the old gentleman has had a dearth of victims 
lately) demanded his dues. I had expected an 
attack, but neither so sudden nor so fierce a one; 
nor did I anticipate so complete a defeat. In 
short, fifteen minutes after the ship left the Capes 
I was hopelessly, helplessly sea-sick. A Japanese 
proverb says “a sea-voyage is an inch of hell,” and 
for the greater part of six or seven days my opinion 
on the subject of ocean travel tallied exactly with 


lO 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


that of the slant-eyed philosopher who wrote those 
words. I took no notice of anything, didn’t want 
to see or eat anything, couldn’t have eaten any¬ 
thing if I had wanted to, and was altogether as 
thoroughly wretched as possible. I have no notes 
to enter in my log for that week of internal strife ; 
I diligently pursued the ignis-fatmis^ relief, by all 
the equally useless methods, for some unknown 
reason recommended, and carefully compounded 
and swallowed a dozen or fifteen “ remedies for 
sea-sickness,” which disgraced the pages of the 
captain’s “ family medicine book,” by their pres¬ 
ence among respectable and estimable prescrip¬ 
tions. Time, however, accomplished what the 
delusive medicines and mock reliefs could not, 
and on the morning of the 15th I turned out to 
find the sea-sickness gone and my vanished appe¬ 
tite returned. The attack pulled me down in 
weight, and has left me rather weak, but now that 
I’m ship-shape again, I’ll recover the lost ground 
rapidly with the help of those capital tonics, fresh 
air, plain food, plenty of exercise, and early hours. 

We have crossed the Gulf Stream and are now 
in mid-Atlantic, steering south, and we have also 
worked our way over the first of the three calm 
belts that must be crossed between the North At¬ 
lantic and Cape Horn. It was tedious work, but 
on the whole we did very well, and were lucky 
enough not to get really stuck. These exasperat- 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. jj 

ing barriers to quick passages are called the Dol¬ 
drums by sailors, and the second lies a little north 
of the Equator, while number three is down at 
the Tropic of Capricorn. Corresponding calm 
belts obstruct the navigation of the Pacific on 
similar parallels of latitude, so that five more of 
them must be passed over before we reach Cali¬ 
fornia. The region of calms we recently were in 
is known as the Horse Latitudes, and received 
its name from the fact that before the days of 
steamers, when the West Indies were supplied 
with horses from the United States and England, 
the vessels which carried them would often, when 
becalmed in those latitudes, run short of water, 
so that a great part of their living freight had to 
be thrown overboard in order to save the lives of 
a few, and in this way thousands of horses were 
lost. We have also sailed through several of the 
enormous beds of sea-weed which form the cele¬ 
brated Sargasso Sea, and the effect was very 
curious. The weed is very tough, and closely 
knit into huge patches, which float about, just 
submerged, and is covered with bunches of little 
round berries the size of a marrowfat pea. Of 
course I have to chronicle, too, my first sight of 
those queer little maritime wanderers. Mother 
Cary’s chickens. Never the traveller yet who 
didn’t mention them, and indeed it is a striking 
sight, far out on the wind-swept ocean, to see 


2 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


these tiny birds hovering closely over the surface 
of the sea, rising as the waves rise, and sinking 
again as the watery hillock subsides. They ap¬ 
pear as tireless as steam-engines, and in their 
curious wavering flight bear a closer resemblance 
to bats than to birds. On Thursday a hungry 
shark mistook the revolving brass fan which is 
attached to the end of our patent log-line for a 
fish, and swallowed it. The captain says this is 
not an infrequent occurrence, although it is not 
very often that the fans are lost, as the sharks, not 
finding the article as toothsome as they antici¬ 
pated, promptly let go. We have several extra 
fans for just this very reason, and number two is 
now spinning away astern. At 4 a.m. yesterday 
morning I was awakened by hearing the mate call 
down the companion-way to the captain that there 
was a boat coming alongside. I hurried on some 
clothes and went on deck, where it was quite 
dark; but after a minute or so I could make out 
a long white whale-boat, with seven or eight men 
in her, pulling for our lee quarter. It was very 
calm, but we had been hove to and were waiting 
for them. In a few moments they were alongside, 
and as we could see no vessels anywhere around 
us, I had mad : up my mind that it was a case of 
shipwrecked mariners afloat in an open boat, and 
was prepared to see several haggard and starving 
men drag themselves over the rail, when my ro- 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


3 


mancing was squelched by hearing a gruff voice 
sing out from the heaving boat below, “ I say 
there on board the ship, can you let’s have some 
late papers ?” Scene, mid-ocean on a pitch-dark 
morning, a great ship slowly shoving ahead into 
the darkness; the lookout discovers a row-boat 
full of men pulling like mad for the ship; ship 
hove to, and her crew crowding the bulwarks to 
get a glimpse at the supposed rescued waifs, are 
at the moment of their greatest suspense for the 
welfare of the poor creatures, whom Providence 
has directed the ship should save, requested for 
some late newspapers. The mysterious strangers 
were invited on board, and two or three of them 
scrambled up, one of them an officer, who, as soon 
as he reached the deck, began bellowing out 
orders to the men below, and then announced 
himself as second mate of the brig “ D. A. Small,” 
of Provincetown, Massachusetts, three months out 
on a whaling cruise, and, as he added, “devil a 
quart of oil.” After a short call of fifteen minutes 
or so the strangers called their boat alongside and 
bid us good-by, richer by a bundle of New York 
and Philadelphia papers than when they came. 
The brig, which we could now see in the breaking 
daylight, lay some three miles astern, so that our 
friends had a pretty hard pull for their news, for 
rowing a heavy whale-boat in mid-ocean is a vastly 
different description of sport than the same dis- 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 

tance pulled in an ordinary row-boat on a river or 
lake. Just after sunrise we made out a large ship 
on the port bow, evidently bound for Europe, so 
we unloosened the signal halliards, spread out the 
flags, and soon were near enough for her to see 
that we had a message for her to carry to port for 
us. When she was fairly abeam, about two miles 
to windward, and making a superb picture as the 
sun shone on her broad white sails, we ran our 
bunting aloft to the signal-gaff, and gave her our 
name and nation ; then followed “ from Philadel¬ 
phia for San Francisco,” “eleven days out,” our 
longitude, and “ all well.” In return we got, 
“ American ship Queenstown,” “ Rangoon for the 
channel,” “ will report you—wish you a pleasant 
voyage.” Then both ships dipped the American 
colors three times and the flags were put away. 
Following the rule that it never rains but it pours, 
we spoke two other vessels before sunset, one a 
French bark, belonging to a company that owns 
ninety-nine vessels, which number it never allows 
to increase or diminish, and which instead of 
naming the craft comprising this large fleet, num¬ 
ber them instead. The one we spoke carried the 
figures 43 prominently displayed in black on her 
mainsail, and the other vessels of the company 
carry their numbers in the same conspicuous posi¬ 
tion. She was seventy-two days out from Valpa¬ 
raiso, Chili, and was bound for Falmouth, England. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


15 


The third vessel spoken was also a bark, but this 
time a Britisher, and was making for London on a 
voyage from Bombay. Like the “ Queenstown,” 
both barks promised to report us. I intend to 
write this log but once a week, and am going to 
give the weather, and other regular matters of 
record at sea, a special page, where they can be 
seen in tabulated form. Sunday will be the day 
for this log-writing, and after the tables above 
mentioned, and the incidents of the week are 
noted down, I shall try and give you some idea 
of what life on a merchantman is like, and how 
Jack fares, and what he does on a voyage round 
the stormy cape. 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


I 6 


Table giving daily Latitude, Longitude, Miles sailed. Temperature at 
noon, and Remarks on the Weather, etc., from fuly 9 to July 27 
inclusive. 


July 9.—Lat. 38° 21'' N. 

Lon, 72° 18' W. 
Weather fine and cool. 

July 10.—Lat. 38° 06'' N. 

Lon. 69° 20'' W, 

Weather fine. 


Ship’s run—134 miles.* 
Temp, at noon, 73°. 


Run—140 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 78°. 


July 11.—Lat. 37° 53^ N. Run—134 miles. 

Lon. 65° 45^ W. Temp, at noon, 8l°. 

Clear and cool all day. Squally during the night. 

July 12.—Lat. 37° 29' N. Run—205 miles. 

Lon, 61° 16' W. Temp, at noon, 78°. 

Weather very fine. 


July 13.—Lat. 36° 49' N. Run—226 miles. 

Lon. 56° 36' W. Temp, at noon, 79°. 

Weather fine, except occasional short and light squalls during morning. 
Sea rough. 


July 14.—Lat. 36° 31' N. Run—222 miles. 

Lon. 51° 45^ W. Temp, at noon, 79°. 

Weather fine. 


July 15.—Lat. 35° 36' N, Run—226 miles. 

Lon. 47° 09'' W, Temp, at noon, 80°. 

Weather fine. Sea running high. 


July 16.—Lat. 33° 59' N. 

Lon. 44° 21^ W. 

Fine weather continues. Sea rough. 

July 17.—Lat. 32° 34' N. 

Lon. 42° 29'' W. 

Weather fine. Light airs. 


Run—173 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 80°. 


Run—138 miles. 
Temp at noon, 82°. 


* Nautical miles. 



HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN 


^1 


July i8.—Lat. 31° 50' N. Run—52 miles. 

Lon. 41° 42' W. Temp, at noon, 82°. 

Weather fine and warm. Light airs and calms. 


July 19.—Lat. 30° 58^ N. Run—56 miles. 

Lon. 41° 47' W. Temp, at noon, 88°. 

Weather fine and warm. Light airs all a.m. Got the N.E. trade 
winds about 3 p.m. 

July 20.—Lat. 28° II'' N. Run—174 miles. 

Lon. 41° 24'' W. Temp, at noon, 82°. 

Fine weather all day. Squally at night. 


July 21.—Lat. 24° 38'' N. Run—224 miles. 

Lon. 40° 22 ' W. Temp, at noon, 83°. 

Same weather as yesterday. Sea very high and rough. 


July 22.—Lat. 21° 13' N. Run—218 miles. 

Lon. 39° 37' W. Temp, at noon, 82°. 

Squalls at short intervals during morning, and again late at night. 


July 23.—Lat. 19° 01'' N. 

Lon. 39° 27'' W. 
Weather very fine. 

July 24.—Lat. 16° 38'' N. 

Lon. 37° 40'' W. 
Weather still fine. 

July 25.—Lat. 14° ii' N. 

Lon. 36° 20' W. 
Weather fine. Several dry squa 
towards evening. 


Run—133 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 82°. 


Run—180 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 82°. 


Run—160 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 82°. 
during the day. Wind died away 


July 26.—Lat. 13° ii'N. Run—70 miles. 

Lon. 35° 59' W. Temp, at noon, 84°. 

Weather beautiful. Light air and calms. 

July 27.—Lat. 11° 54' N. Run—78 miles. 

Lon. 35° 36'' W. Temp, at noon, 85°. 

Rain-squalls before sunrise. Clear and warm all day. Continued 
calms. Lo.st N.E. trade winds to-day. 


b 


2* 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG UF 


At Sea, July 27. 

The above table brings me up to date as far as 
our daily records of position, distance sailed, and 
weather reports are concerned, and a glance at it 
will show how uniformly fine the weather has been 
since we left Philadelphia, the few squalls we have 
experienced coming as a rule at night, and although 
the sea has been rough on several occasions, the 
ship has ridden like a cork and the decks been as 
dry as a bone. 1 might say, in explanation of the 
tables, that a nautical day is from meridian to me¬ 
ridian, that is to say, from noon to noon, and when, 
as under to-day’s heading, I say we ran seventy- 
eight miles, I mean that distance was covered from 
twelve o’clock yesterday to twelve o’clock to-day. 

July 23.—In the evening a flying-fish that struck 
one of the lower sails fell on deck, and being the 
first one I have had a close view of, was a curiosity; 
it measured about nine inches in length, and was 
shaped like a chub. The next morning I found 
it nicely broiled on my plate at breakfast, and 
can recommend the species as both delicate and 
well flavored. Flying-fish, the mate tells me, are 
about the only deep-water fish that have scales, 
nearly all others met at sea, from the dolphins to 
tlie whales, wearing a skin. Passed two small 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN 


19 


vessels bound north; shortly after dark they 
passed across the face of the newly arisen moon, 
and formed for the moment a very pretty sil¬ 
houette. Later, made out the celebrated constel¬ 
lation of the Southern Cross, on the southern 
horizon ; but it will be some time before we see 
it in its most beautiful phase, that is, shining with 
great brilliancy directly above us. 

yu/y 25.—During the morning passed through a 
large fleet of nautilus, those renowned little crea¬ 
tures of the jelly-fish species, that spread their 
tiny film-like sails in delicate shades of pink and 
blue, and cruise about over the waves, sometimes 
alone or in little groups, and again, as I first saw 
them, in vast numbers. The sunlight playing on 
the thousands of rising and falling sails made a 
very pretty picture. We were slopping along at 
a lazy pace when we overtook the fleet, which was 
running before a gentle breeze just strong enough 
to suit the sailing qualities of its tiny craft, and 
after scoring several misses in my attempts to 
catch one, I succeeded at last in slipping a bucket 
directly beneath a beauty and hauled it aboard 
without disturbing it in the slightest degree. 
Placing the bucket on deck, I went forward to call 
the carpenter and show him my prize. As we 
started aft we saw one of the ship’s cats approach 
the bucket and proceed to investigate the nau¬ 
tilus, doubtless attracted by its fishy odor, and 


20 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


before we could interfere puss had captured the 
prize, and was scampering- away with it. Another 
name common to the nautilus is that of Portu¬ 
guese men-of-war, and this specimen promptly 
gave evidence of its warlike nature by stinging 
the cat before she had carried it across the deck, 
pussy dropping it with a terrified yowl, and van¬ 
ishing into her sanctum, the galley, as though a 
dozen dogs were at her heels. During the rest 
of the day she sat in a corner, uttering plaintive 
nieyows, and alternately rubbing her cheeks on 
the deck or scraping her swollen tongue with one 
of her front paws. 

yuly 26.—The ship becalmed. Took a plunge- 
bath overboard, with a light line around me,—the 
captain made such a fuss about sharks, however, 
that I soon came on deck. ' This bringing me up 
to date, I will close the log for this week with an 
account of the ship herself, and from week to 
week hereafter tell you of her officers and crew, 
and how we pass the time. 

The “ Pactolus” is a Maine-built ship, and was 
launched in the winter of 1864; she was built by 
her present owners, a New York firm, whose 
house-flags flutter at the peaks of some of the 
finest clippers of our mercantile marine. Her 
measurements are as follows: length one hun¬ 
dred and ninety-eight feet, beam thirty-eight feet 
six inches, and she registers twelve hundred and 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 2 I 

five tons. She is full ship-rigged, carries very 
heavy spars, and when under full sail spreads 
fifteen thousand square feet of canvas. Her 
model is graceful, her bows as sharp and sym¬ 
metrical as those of a yacht, and she rides the 
waves as easily and buoyantly as a duck a coun¬ 
try pond. To save myself the trouble of describ¬ 
ing her various parts, I offer the accompanying 
sketches of the arrangement of her deck and 
cabin, which I hope will give you a good idea of 
the ship’s various departments. 

The poop-deck is elevated above the main deck 
about four or five feet, and the top of the after¬ 
house is also used as a deck, and is the favorite 
lounging-place of the officers and captain in the 
early evening, the tops of the skylights forming 
comfortable seats. There is also a hammock 
swung there from the mizzen-mast to the mizzen 
shrouds, and the spanker-boom, especially when 
the sail is set, affords a capital resting-place. 

yulyyo .—The ship surrounded by a large school 
of porpoises all day. It numbered probably over 
two hundred fish. They seemed to be divided 
into families of five, and sometimes six or seven 
fish each. These would swim about in a perfect 
line, all abreast, all curving out of water at once, 
and each tail disappearing at the same instant. 
The calm water was alive with these files of ma¬ 
rine soldiers, whose drilling would reflect honor 


22 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 



ON DECK. 






















































































HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 23 

on the State Fencibles themselves. The captain 
tried to harpoon one during the morning, but they 
would not approach close enough, as only when 
the ship has some head-way will they venture to 
play about the bow. A breeze sprang up about 
three o’clock, and the second mate lashed himself 
to the martingale (which is the bar of wood point¬ 
ing downward from the bowsprit) to try his luck 
at sticking a porpoise, numbers of which were 
playing underneath him. After one blank cast 
he drove the harpoon deep into a regular old 
warrior, who struggled like a Trojan, but who was 
finally landed on deck, all hands having given a 
hand to the rope and singing a sailor’s song as they 
hove him over the rail. He measured nine feet six 
inches in length. That evening and all day Thurs¬ 
day we regaled ourselves with porpoise steaks, 
liver, and brains served up in various styles. The 
first tasted not unlike very coarse juiceless beef, 
the second had the delicate flavor of black mud, 
but the brains were really quite palatable. On the 
appearance of a plate of steaks for Friday’s break¬ 
fast, the unanimous vote of captain, mate, and 
passengers consigned about two hundred pounds 
of still uncooked meat to a watery grave, where 
it probably served as the dinner of some hungry 
shark. From inside the jawbone we got nearly 
a quart of very fine oil, which is highly prized by 
jewellers on account of its purity. 


24 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week ending August 3. 


July 28.—Lat. 11° 42^ N. 

Lon. 45° 42^ W. 

Weather fine. Calms and cat’s-paws. 

Run—13 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 86°. 

July 29.—Lat. 10° 1 "]' N. 

Lon. 34° 52^ W. 

Weather fine. Light breezes and calms. 

Run—109 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 85°. 

July 30 —Lat. 9° 37^ N. 

Lon. 34° 04^ W. 

Weather fine. 

Run—46 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 84°. 

July 31.—Lat. 8° 13^ N. 

Lon. 32° 38' W. 

Run—136 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 81°. 


Squalls all day; very heavy rain during afternoon. 


August I. —Lat..7° N. 

Lon. 28° 57^ W. 

Weather fine. Sea rough and heavy. 

Run—218 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 82°. 

August 2.—Lat. 6° 28' N. 

Lon. 28° 25^ W. 

Run—139 miles. 

Temp. al noon, 83°. 


Weather fine. Got S.E. trade winds during morning. Sea remains 
rough. 


August 3.—Lat. 4° 51^ N. 

Lon. 28° 34^ W. 

Weather fine. Sea still rough. 

Run—146 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 83°. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


25 


III. 

At Sea, Sunday, August 3. 

Another week of beautiful weather, the first 
three days being mostly calm. These calms, 
although great bugbears to the captain, who frets 
at the delays they cause in the passage, are to me 
very pleasant. The contrast is indeed great be¬ 
tween when, with every stitch of canvas set, we 
go plunging along before a stiff breeze, reeling 
off twelve knots the hour, the ocean covered with 
white-caps as far as the eye can see, and, when 
not a breath of air stirring, the ship rolls heavily 
on the long swells that glisten under the sun like 
metal. In the shadow of the ship the clear blue 
water makes me yearn to tumble in and take a 
swim, but the little word “ sharks” explains why I 
curb my desires and remain on deck. Still, a few 
buckets of salt water poured over me by one of 
the sailors is enough of a substitute to take the 
edge off my disappointment. 

While thus becalmed we often lose steerage¬ 
way altogether, swinging all around the compass. 
The sails, swung backwards and forwards by the 
motion of the vessel, slap against the masts at reg¬ 
ular intervals with loud reports, and the timbers 
creak and groan at a great rate. Calms wear out 

B 3 


26 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


a ship’s sails and rigging much faster than breezes 
do, on account of the constant chafing they un¬ 
dergo. To avoid this in a measure the parts 
most exposed are thickly padded with yarn, etc.; 
this is called “ chafing-gear,” and is taken off when 
going into port. 

The sunsets on these calm evenings are exquis¬ 
itely beautiful, especially the afterglow, when soft 
rays of almost every imaginable color shoot up 
from the horizon, spreading out like huge fans, 
the different tints blending together as delicately 
as the colors in mother-of-pearl, which illegitimate 
jewel is perhaps the best simile I could find to 
describe the sky at these times. In fact, since 
leaving port we have enjoyed a series of sunsets 
beautiful beyond description. The ocean is the 
place to see them at their best, and here in the 
tropics are witnessed the most beautiful ones. 
Sometimes, when after a blow the clouds are wild 
and broken, the effects are positively startling; 
no artist could ever hopfe to reproduce them, and 
were they transferred to canvas, people would 
probably pronounce them strangely unnatural. 

I shall devote this week’s entry in the log to a 
description of the officers and crew, starting of 
course with the captain, or, to give him his sailor 
name, “ the old man.” This title, which is always 
applied in utter disregard of the number of birth¬ 
days the skipper may have seen, is in the case of 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


27 

Captain C-, who commands the “ Pactoliis,” 

most certainly a misnomer, for he is only thirty 
years of age. About five feet ten inches in height, 
with broad shoulders, a strongly-built figure, brown 
hair and eyes, and a well-tanned face, smoothly 
shaven with the exception of a small moustache, 
the captain is as handsome as he is pleasant, and 
a thorough sailor and navigator both in theory 
and practice. He is a genial, good-natured fellow, 
who takes an absorbing interest in his profession 
and its duties, and seems also to take great pleas¬ 
ure in dispelling the darkness of a landlubber’s 
ignorance with which I am at first naturally be- 
fogged. Under his patient guidance the mysteries 
of the maze of rigging have been made clear, the 
unknown lingo of technical orders has become 
sense to my ears, and I have learned to box the 
compass, heave the log, handle the wheel, and 
(with considerable assistance as yet) “ shoot the 
sun.” Every day when he locates our position 
on the chart he chats with me about it as though 
I were as good a navigator as himself, and alto¬ 
gether impresses me with the conviction that it 
would have been difficult to have found a pleas¬ 
anter commander. Sprung from a race of hardy 
New England mariners, and hailing from the 
coast of Maine, he has from his fifteenth year 
pursued a sailor’s life, and has mounted from the 
forecastle of a coaster to the quarter-deck of a 



28 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


clipper. He joined die “ Pactohis” as third mate, 
successively filled the berths of second and first 
mates, and three years ago, after eight years’ 
service on board, was given command. He loves 
his ship, which for so many years has been his 
home, and is, as I said, devoted to his profession, 
spending a great part of his time each day in 
working up sights, taking observations, fixing his 
charts and log-books, and in poring over nautical 
records and sailing directions. For the govern¬ 
ment he keeps a most complicated meteorological 
journal, which involves no small amount of labor, 
and for which he has been very highly compli¬ 
mented by the authorities at Washington. Proud 
of his ship, it is his delight to keep her in perfect 
order, and to sustain her good name for rapid 
passages, and on this voyage is racing with the 
clipper-ship “Joseph S. Spinney,” a two-thousand- 
tonner, that sailed from New York for San Fran¬ 
cisco five days before we passed to sea. The 
two captains are old friends and rivals, and for 
the last three years the two ships have once each 
twelvemonth started at the same time for Califor¬ 
nia. Twice the “ Pactolus” triumphantly scored 
the best run, but last season the “ Spinney” won 
in a canter after a rattling passage of one hundred 
and seventeen days. Perhaps, however, the “Pac¬ 
tolus” was not put through her best paces, for 
Captain C-was for some reason compelled to 



HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


29 


shift his command for the time being, and another 
skipper took his ship to San Francisco for him. 
This voyage he is resolved to retrieve last year’s 
defeat, and it will be a bitter pill for him to swal¬ 
low if the “Spinney” scores the better run. Nat¬ 
urally I back him in his wish for victory. At vari¬ 
ance with the habits of most sailors, the captain 
never smokes, and while at sea never drinks 
either wines or liquors, but for all that frowns not 
on those petty vices if practised by his officers or 
crew. 

Mr. B-, the first mate, is the captain’s senior 

by one year, and like him is also a New Eng¬ 
lander, beinof a native of Connecticut. He is 
stouter than the captain, has a short, reddish 
beard, blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and when rigged 
out in a pea-jacket, high-top boots, and a big flat- 
topped Scotch cap, is the picture of a jolly sailor. 
He, too, is a thorough seaman, and he gives 
his orders with a snap and vim that sends the 
sailors about their duties in double-quick time. 
Like the captain, Mr. B- is very kind in ex¬ 

plaining anything I wish to know about the vessel. 
He has been in many parts of the world in the 
course of his life at sea, and has plenty of yarns 
to spin of his adventures and experiences, some 
of which are most interesting and amusing, even if 
they are here and there inlaid with unmistakable 
“taffy.” He is a great smoker and reader, is 




A LANDLUBBER'S I.OG OF 


30 

well posted on all sorts of topics, and takes much 
pleasure in the large supply of cheap reprints I 
have on board with me, having in fact read a 
great many more of them than I have myself. 
Mr. B-is slightly English in his feelings, hav¬ 

ing married an English lady and lived there at 
various periods of his life, Liverpool, in fact, being 
his home. We are great friends, and I spend 
hours on deck with him on the evenings when it 
is his early watch. 

Our second mate, Mr. D-, is a character, 

and promises to be a most important element in 
making my voyage a pleasant one. As to his 
capabilities I give the verdict of the captain and 
mate, who declare him to be a capital sailor and 
second officer, but a failure when it comes to the 
science of navigation. However, he doesn’t have 
to take a hand in that branch of the ship’s routine, 
and so it don’t matter. He daily goes through 
the process of taking sights, as his superior officers 
do, but they smile and say his efforts are a delu¬ 
sion and a snare which they are not to be taken 
in by, although they are too good-natured to let 
him know that they see through his attempt to be 
judged a navigator. He claims to be from Maine, 
but again his superiors doubt him, and style him 
a “ blue nose,” by which they mean a native of 
Nova Scotia. What they form their opinions 
upon I cannot tell. Mr. D-is a fine-looking 





HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


31 

fellow, of powerful build and dark complexion, 
and is, I should judge, about twenty-seven or 
twenty-eight years old. His character may be 
described as being a combination of Mark Tapley 
and the Baron Munchausen, for good nature and 
light-heartedness seem to be his natural state of 
mind, and his fictions are continuous and colossal. 
Whatever he does he seems to enjoy doing it: 
whether it be spinning a yarn, singing a song, 
playing a fiddle, or damning the crew, he does it 
with a hearty good-will, and does it with a chuckle 
and a smile. But his strong point is the facility 
and readiness with which he can invent and relate 
stories of such utter improbability that the tales 
of the aforementioned baron seem by comparison 
but mild effort at drawing the long-bow. He is 
always ready to spin these entirely unbelievable 
yarns, and does so with an earnestness and gusto 
which are most amusing, and what makes them 
even more attractive, they are all related as being 
his own personal experiences. Mr. D-pos¬ 

sesses an old violin, fearful in tone, and with but 
two strings, on which he spends most of his 
watches below in sawing into a wheezing accom¬ 
paniment to the comic ditties that he loves to sing, 
interspersing them with jokes and sayings of the 
nature that delight variety theatre patrons and 
the gods of the gallery. Often he will bring this 
treasured instrument into the carpenter-shop, and, 
3 



A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


?2 

seated on a low stool, will amuse himself and an 
audience consisting of the carpenter, the cook, the 
steward, and myself with his capital imitations of 
negro and Dutch performers. These perform¬ 
ances delight him greatly, and he often laughs till 
the tears trickle down his cheeks. 

The carpenter is a very important man on 
board, and is known as “ Chips.” He is busily 
engaged from morning till night, and stands no 
watches. Our Chips is a middle-aged, pleasant¬ 
faced Yankee, a cousin of the captain, and a very 
companionable man, in whose shop I spend many 
a pleasant hour whittling sticks and chatting. 
Then come those important functionaries, the stew¬ 
ard and cook, both genuine almond-eyed China¬ 
men, who can talk a limited amount of pigeon- 
English,. and are very queer chaps. Of the two 
the steward is the more accomplished, and is 
making praiseworthy efforts to improve his lim¬ 
ited knowledge of English by diligently studying 
with a spelling-book and slate. Nearly every 
evening he devotes an hour to his task, and 
sometimes I help him along, much to his delight. 
On board his title is simply “ steward,” but he 
says, “ Me leal namee b’long Chin Lee ; me comee 
flom Tin Sin (Tsin Tsin) ; b’long vellie nice place 
in China.” 

Thus it is seen that I am very pleasantly fixed 
as regards personnel of the ship’s officers, and 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


33 


this brings me to the crew, among whom should be 
placed the last three mentioned personages. The 
sailors number sixteen, and are, the mate tells 
me, an average lot. Their nationality is various, 
England, France, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Italy, 
and Ireland all contributing one or more speci¬ 
mens of their mariners, and they seem a willing 
and hardy set of Jacks-. Later I will speak of 
them again. Last comes the ship’s boy, at best a 
thankless berth, and when unpleasant, unpleasant 
with a vengeance. Our boy is the only American 
before the mast. He is from Girard College, and 
like many a boy before him, longed to be a sailor, 
so, after useless expostulations from his teachers 
and friends, shipped on board the “ Pactolus.” 
He acknowledges already that the life is not what 
he had pictured it to be, but pluckily takes a 
cheerful view of it. I fancy he has not been fully 
tested yet, and that there is plenty of experience 
in store for him that will try his mettle far more 
than that he has already gone through. It’s a 
hard school, and no mistake, but he has good- 
natured superiors, and that counts for everything 
in the life of a ship’s boy, for with tyrants for 
officers, as is so often the case, the ship’s boy has 
about as utterly miserable an existence as can be 
imagined. 

With the addition of my fellow-passenger, an 
American gentleman of about thirty years of age. 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


34 

who is bound for California with the intention of 
going into business there, we number, all told, 
twenty-five hands, and next week I will try and 
give you some idea of our various daily occupa¬ 
tions. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


OO 


Table for week ending August lo 


August 4.—Lat. 2° 2U N. 

Lon. 29° 37'' W. 

Weather beautiful. Sea moderating. 


Run—155 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 84°. 


August 5.—Lat. 0° 40' S. Run—190 miles. 

Lon. 30° 48' W. Temp, at noon, 79°. 

Weather fine. Crossed the equator at 7.30 A.M., twenty-seven and one- 
half days from Capes of Delaware. Heavy dew after sunset. 

August 6.—Lat. 2° 35' S. Run—127 miles. 

Lon. 31° 52'' W. Temp, at noon, 79°. 

Squally between i and 8 a.m. Rest of the day very fine. Sea rough 
and ugly. 


August 7.—Lat. 4° 54'' S. Run—177 miles. 

Lon. 33° 37'' W. Temp, at noon, 80°. 

Fine weather. Rough cross-sea. Ship twisting badly. Passed fifteen 
miles west of island of Fernando de Noronha at 12.30 a.m. 


August 8.—Lat. 6° 45'' S. Run—162 miles. 

Lon. 35° 29'' W. Temp, at noon, 82°. 

Squalls and rain till 12 M. Land in sight about Cape Branco, bearing 
W.S.W. to W. by N. Distance about eighteen miles after i p.m. Weather 
fine all afternoon and evening. 


August 9.—Lat. 7° 44° S. Run—136 miles. 

Lon. 34° 39'' W. 'Temp, at noon, 80°. 

Weather beautiful at 12 m. Were within six miles of the coast of 
Brazil. Tacked ship and stood to the eastward at that hour. 

August 10.—Lat. 9° 32' S. 

Lon. 34° 12'' W. 

Weather very fine. 


Run—145 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 80°. 


36 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


ZV. 

At Ska, Sunday, August lo. 

August 7.—During the day, we passed between 
the Rocas Reef and the island of Fernando de 
Noronha. The former bearing west, some sixty 
miles on our starboard, and the island quarter that 
distance on our port beam. 

The Rocas is a circular coral reef, mostly just 
submerged, and about two miles in diameter, and 
is the only one of its kind in the west Atlantic. 
Lying as it does about one hundred and twenty- 
five miles off the northeastern extremity of the 
Brazilian coast, directly in the great highway 
across the equator, it is considered one of, if not 
the most dangerous spots in that ocean. On its 
treacherous coral rocks are piled the timbers of 
many fine ships, which, without warning of any 
kind, have rushed headlong to their destruction. 
Fernando de Noronha—the outlines of which 
were visible from deck—is an island about six 
and a half miles long by two miles wide, and is 
by far the largest of a small cluster. The shore 
is generally very steep and rocky, at one place 
towering into a rugged peak eight hundred feet 
high; but there are one or two small bays, where 
sandy beaches may be found. It is said to be a 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


37 


beautiful spot, having a great variety of tropical 
vegetation, is owned by the Brazilian government, 
and is used as a convict station and place of exile 
for political offenders. They most certainly have 
a preferable prison to that of the subjects of the 
Czar, who are waltzed off to Siberia. 

The same day we ran past two barks, probably 
bound for Rio, and another flying-fish contributed 
himself to our breakfast bill of fare by flying on 
board. Of the many thousands we see all around 
the ship, I wish more would follow his example. 

August 8.—Sighted the coast of Brazil, while 
on an inshore tack, beating past Cape Saint Roque. 
To me it only seemed a low streak, looking like 
a fog-bank, but the captain assured me it was 
land. During that night we continued standing 
in towards shore. 

August 9.—At sunrise the coast bore about 
twenty miles to the westward. The breeze was 
very light, and, although every stitch of canvas 
was set, the ship moved but slowly. It was as 
beautiful a day as I ever saw. The sky, a delicate 
turquoise shade, formed a charming contrast to 
the deep sapphire blue of the ocean, whose sur¬ 
face was scarcely more than rippled by the light 
airs, and the sun, instead of broiling us alive as It 
is in the habit of doing people down here, only 
raised the quicksilver to “eighty.” At 10 a.m. the 
nearest land lay about twelve miles on the star- 
4 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


38 

board beam, die ship then heading about south. 
Going aloft with a glass to get a better view, I 
soon made out a fleet of small sails standing off 
shore, and heading so as to pass close to us. 
Half an hour brought them close enough for the 
captain to pronounce them catamarans, and a few 
minutes later the entire fleet of perhaps twenty- 
five or thirty passed within short range, several 
going so close under the stern that we could have 
tossed a penny over them. These curious boats, 
or rather rafts, are made by lashing side by side 
some four or five large logs with pointed ends, 
leaving room enough between each log for the free 
passage of the water. Over these is laid a plank 
deck, through which is stuck the mast. At the 
back is lashed a raised seat, on which the helms¬ 
man sits or leans to steer, which he does with a 
long oar. The catamarans were mostly rigged 
with leg-of-mutton sails, but some few had small 
spankers, and one high-toned captain sported a 
jib about the size of a healthy towel. The men 
who comprised their small crews (some carrying 
two and others three) were dark-skinned chaps 
with straight black hair, and are the Indian fisher¬ 
men of the coast. This was apparent from the 
nets that we could see hanging on the masts, to¬ 
gether with a big bag, which probably held their 
provisions. The fleet all passed us, heading north¬ 
east, in which direction lie the fishing-banks that 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


39 

supply Pernambuco. By noon we were only six 
miles off shore. A little to the southward the 
land receded, showing us the entrance to Per¬ 
nambuco harbor, and had we been bound there, a 
few hours would have found us at anchor off the 
city front. Pernambuco is the third city in im¬ 
portance in Brazil, and has about one hundred 
and twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The city 
proper we could not see, but perched on the 
summit of one of the high hills that form a range 
of the town the suburb of Olinda was plainly vis¬ 
ible from deck. The houses and churches, whicli 
are all white, looked very pretty, imbedded as they 
were on the green hills. Some little distance from 
the village stands an old convent in the centre of 
a cocoanut grove, three trees of which tower far 
above their fellows, and are seen a long distance 
off when coming in from sea. 

From aloft I could easily make out the line of 
surf breaking on the beach, and also a low fort 
which was built a long time ago by the Dutch, the 
stones in its foundation being brought all the way 
from Europe. Tacking again at 12.30, we ran 
direct off shore before a fine land breeze, and 
by 4 P.M. had sunk the land astern. About two 
o’clock my attention was attracted by what looked 
like a patch of breakers, half a mile on the weather 
bow. The second mate noticed it at the same 
moment, and pronounced it to be a couple of 


40 


A LAND/.UBBER'S LOG OF 


whales playing or fighting. So it proved, and 
soon afterwards many others were seen blowing 
in the same direction. They gradually drew 
nearer, and two monsters followed us, playing in 
our wake, while others were rising all around the 
ship. The mate and I went up in the mizzen 
cross-trees, from which elevated seat the entire 
forms of the big ones astern could be plainly 
seen. They would come within a hundred feet 
of the ship, rise and blow, and then sink a few 
feet below the surface for a minute, and swim on 
again. After half an hour of this performance 
the captain loaded his rifie, and just as one 
spouted let drive. The slug struck “ full and by;” 
the whale stung by the pain threw himself almost 
out of the water, coming down with a sounding 
smack, and throwing the spray for many yards. 
On striking the water he fluked or dived, his tre¬ 
mendous tail giving an extra flourish or so before 
it disappeared; at the same time his mate van¬ 
ished. Shortly afterwards I took a shot at one 
who was blowing about two hundred yards away 
on the port quarter, and the result was very sat¬ 
isfactory—to the whale. 

They were of the sperm variety, and blew a 
small cloud of what looked at a little distance like 
white smoke or steam. The two big ones that 
came so near were at least seventy feet long. 
This being my first peep at a whale, and such an 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


41 


exceptionally good one, I must mark the day down 
as a red-letter one. 

The voyage from the United States or England 
to San Francisco is divided by mariners into five 
parts: first, from, say Philadelphia, to the equator 
in the Atlantic; second, from the^ equator to the 
fiftieth degree of latitude south ; third, thence to 
the fiftieth degree south, in the Pacific; fourth, to 
the equator; and, fifth, to San Francisco, d'he 
first of these stretches we have completed, having 
crossed the equator on Tuesday morning, about 
eight o’clock, after a run of four thousand and 
fifty-five miles in twenty-seven and one-half days, 
being an average of one hundred and forty-seven 
and one-half miles a day, or about six and one- 
eighth knots an hour. For the season the run is 
a very good one, and the captain is much pleased. 
According to ancient lore I am now a member of 
Father Neptune’s large family by virtue of having 
crossed the line. I had always imagined the 
equator, at sea, to be a place where perpetual 
calms reigned, and the mercury never sank below 
100°. This idea was rather upset by seeing us 
run over on a cool day, before a stiff breeze, and 
the sea high enough to keep the spray flying in 
clouds over our bow. On leaving the “line” 
astern we also bid farewell for a time to the North 
Star, and expect again to catch a glimpse of his 
twinkle about the first week in October. 


4^ 


42 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


And now to tell you how we work and play. 
The captain, in the first place, is lord paramount; 
he stands no watch, does just as he chooses, and 
is of course unaccountable to any one on board. 
His word is law, and he must be obeyed without 
a question in everythinghe has the power to 
turn his officers off duty, and even to break them 
and make them do sailors’ work and live in the 
fo’castle, so that to ship with a tyrannical skipper 
generally insures both officers and men a disa¬ 
greeable time of it. 

Captain C-, however, is anything but a ty¬ 

rant, although he keeps the ship under strict dis¬ 
cipline. He spends his time about as follows: 
rising very early, he goes on deck and talks over 
the night’s work with the officer on watch. Di¬ 
rectly after breakfast he winds all the chronome¬ 
ters and clocks, and takes a sight for longitude. 
During the morning he overlooks the sail-makers, 
takes other sights for longitude, writes the official 
log for the previous night, and at noon takes an 
observation for latitude. Just as the sun reaches 
the meridian he orders eight bells to be struck, 
and then the clocks are regulated for the day. 
All other hours are struck on the authority of the 
clock in the binnacle, but at noon the man at the 
wheel must wait the captain’s word. Dinner, at 
quarter-past twelve o’clock, being over, he marks 
off the ship’s position on the charts and lays out 



HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


43 


her course for the following day. In the afternoon 
he is generally on deck for an hour or two, and the 
rest of the time reading in his cabin. After supper 
(5.30 P.M.) we sit out on deck till about nine or 
half-past nine o’clock, and then turn in, before 
which the captain always writes up the log for the 
day and also his private journal. About once a 
week he goes all over the ship on a tour of inspec¬ 
tion. 

The first mate, or the mate, as he is always 
called, par excellence^ is the prime minister of the 
vessel’s government. He attends to the allotting 
of all work, sees that it is properly done, and 
when not on deck leaves his orders to be carried 
out by the second mate’s watch. While below, he 
reads in the daytime, and only sleeps at night, 
averaging about five hours’ sleep a day from Phil¬ 
adelphia to “ Frisco.” The mate also keeps the 
ship-log, and attends to the reception and deliver)^ 
of the cargo. Like the captain, he takes obser¬ 
vations, and keeps a separate set of charts for his 
own private use. 

The second mate’s berth is a sort of semi-re¬ 
sponsible one,—he is neither officer nor foremast- 
man, but half-way between the two. The crew 
have a very little respect for his position, and call 
him “ the sailors’ waiter,” on account of his having 
to serve them with yarn, twine, marline-spikes, etc., 
of which he has charge. He is expected by the 


44 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


captain to preserve his dignity with the men, and 
at the same time is looked down upon by the mate, 
and forced to work with the crew, not being ex¬ 
empt from plunging his hands into the tar-pot, or 
laying aloft to furl or reef the topsails. His state¬ 
room is in the cabin, but he takes his meals with the 
carpenter at the second table, which is served in the 
same cabin where the captain, mate, and passengers 
take their meals, but not until they are finished. 

“ Chips” is a most necessary person on board, 
and is hard at work from morning till night mend¬ 
ing battens, making blocks, calking seams, etc. 
As he works all day he is exempt from night duty, 
and is only called in case all hands are needed, as 
when we tack ship. Besides his regular carpenter- 
work he attends to the distribution of fresh water 
every morning, and to putting out the side-lights 
each evening at sunset; it is also his duty to test 
the well morning and evening, to see how much 
water the ship is making. 

The steward and cook will both come in next 
week, when a masterly essay on “ Our Cuisine” 
will form the chief feature of the entry. The 
crew are divided into two watches of eight men 
each, each watch living in a separate fo’castle. 
The port watch is commanded by the mate, and 
the starboard by the second mate. Between these 
two watches the time is divided Into alternate 
stretches of four hours on duty and “below.” If, 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


45 

for instance, the port watch has the deck in the 
first night-watch, from eight to twelve, at the end 
of the four hours they go below, and the star¬ 
board watch come on duty. They hold the deck 
till 4 A.M., when the port again turn out, and so it 
goes from day to day, and week to week, all the 
way to California, thus making it impossible to 
get more than three and a half hours’ sleep at one 
time. In order to shift the hours each night the 
watch from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. is split into two parts 
of two hours each, called the first and second dog¬ 
watches ; by means of these the officer who has 
the middle watcli (or from 12 to 4 a.m.) one night 
will be below those hours the next. The watches 
have their meals as follows: at 5 a.m. the watch 
on deck have hot coffee, and their breakfast at 8 
A.M., when they go below. The watch that turn 
out at that hour (8 a.m.) get theirs at 7.30, dinner 
at 11.30 and 12, tea at 5 and 6 p.m. It is a pop¬ 
ular mistake that sailors lead an idle life at sea. 
When on duty they are never unemployed for a 
moment, and are even forbidden to talk together. 
It is said that “a ship, like a lady’s watch, is always 
in need of repairs,” and that just about strikes it. 
To make these repairs the watch on duty are 
scattered all over the ship, high and low, fore and 
aft, with supplies of yarn and wire, fixing battens 
on and mending chafing-gear. Some are painting 
the iron-work, and others spinning “spun yarn,” 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


|6 

SO that the vessel always looks as busy as a bee¬ 
hive. Some of the work they do, such as splicing 
ropes and plaiting sennit and mats, is very inter¬ 
esting. Each man has.his regular “trick"’ or turn 
at the wheel in two-hour stretches, also on the 
lookout at night, which is set at sundown. When 
pulling on the ropes one man always sings out 
just before the tug, thus insuring a uniform pull. 
Each chap has his own peculiar cry or exclama¬ 
tion for such times, and when there are three or 
four such parties making sail in different parts of 
the ship the assortment of yells and grunts is 
very comical. The effect at such a time from in¬ 
side the cabin would lead any one to suspect that 
a pitched battle was going on overhead, did they 
not know the cause of the rumpus. One fellow 
always yells, “ Pull for a breeze now!” no matter 
whether it is dead calm or the ship making twelve 
knots. Another’s favorite remark is, “Now,yh:z^ 
her down!” Another’s, “Ahyoualtogethernow- 
boys!” but the majority use an indiscriminate 
mass of ohs and ahs, and groans and grunts, 
which go to make a semi-dismal noise, which at 
night has a queer effect. Saturday nights the 
“slop-chest,” or store-room, is opened, and the 
men buy what clothes, boots, tobacco, etc., they 
may want, paying very high prices, and having 
the amount charged against their wages at the 
end of the voyage. (They get on this voyage 


BIS VOYAGE Around cape horn. 


47 

fifteen dollars per month.) On Sundays no labor 
is done, except what is needed to work the ship, 
and the men sit about smoking, reading, and 
mending their clothes. Here, in fine-weather re¬ 
gions, the men have a comparatively easy time of 
it, although the officers order them about like so 
many dogs, and the hardships of the voyage are 
still to come. 

There are some great names among the crew,— 
a Byron, a Scott, a Nelson, and the ship’s boy 
boasts the proud title of Washington. He is 
about seventeen, and is in the mate’s watch, where 
his principal duty consists of small jobs like plait¬ 
ing short yarns and picking over the potatoes for 
bad ones. This ends the crew, and brings me to 
the passengers. 

As etiquette rules that age shall always precede 

beauty, I first describe the way Mr. X-, my 

fellow-passenger, passes the time. I have not as 
yet said anything about him in this journal, be¬ 
cause I wanted to know him better before jotting 
down my opinion. 

A montli, however, has passed since first we 
met, and has been enough to familiarize me with 

his habits. Mr. X-is tall, with light hair and 

moustache, and is on the whole rather good look¬ 
ing. He is going to California to take up business 
there, and having lots of time, adopted this way 
of getting there. It certainly was from no love 




A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


48 

of the sea that he made the passage, as he takes 
no interest whatever in anything about the ship, 
very seldom goes aloft, and never talks on any 
subject connected with the vessel. His three 
great amusements are sleeping, reading the “New 
York Weekly” (of which paper he has several 
hundred copies at least), and singing or humming 
sentimental songs of the “ Molly Darling” and 
“ See that my Grave’s kept Green” order. He 
is quite unable to take any joking, and often has 
little “ tiffs” with the captain and mate,—the latter 
loving to tease him. However, we get along to¬ 
gether without a jar, and are always very friendly. 
To me time passes very quickly, and the days 
flash past like magic; from morning till night I 
am climbing about in the rigging, and can travel 
up and down the mast like smoke. I have pretty 
well mastered the names of all ropes and spars, 
and can prattle ship beautifully. The charts are 
very interesting to me, and I am always about 
when they are being overhauled and brought up 
to date. Then I spend an hour or two every day 
in the carpenter-shop whittling and talking, and 
have so far done but little reading, really not find¬ 
ing time to spare for it. I can imagine nothing 
more bracing or health-giving than a voyage like 
this, and with a party of one’s friends it would be 
perfection. I enjoy every minute of the day, and 
sleep like a top at night, retiring at the very re- 


I US VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


49 


spectable hour of 9.30 p.m. Often in the evening 
we have music served up by the captain’s hand¬ 
some eight-tune box; we are also provided with 
musical instruments, in the shape of the second 
mate’s before-mentioned two-stringed violin, and 
a mouth-organ run to seed, the property of the 
captain. My fellow-passenger’s rendering of “Sil¬ 
ver Threads among the Gold” on the latter in¬ 
strument is calculated to thrill an anchorite. Two 
canary-birds also contribute their voices to the 
musical department, and the cat and kitten often 
trive short evenimr concerts on the main deck. 
To swing in the hammock is another of the simple 
and innocent amusements of the passengers, and 
on these perfect moonlight evenings here in the 
tropics it would be delightful to sleep in one on 
deck were it not for the heavy dew that falls after 
sunset. I had thought I would greatly miss the 
newspapers, but 1 nevej: give them a thought; 
the feeling that it is of no use wishing for them , 
goes a great way towards making one resigned 
to doing without. 


c d 


5 


50 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week ending Azigust 17 . 


August II.—Lat. 12° 42'' S. Run—181 miles. 

Lon. 33° 48'' W. Temp, at noon, 81°. 

Weather beautiful. .Sea very smooth. 


August 12.—Lat. 14° 38^ S. 

Lon. 33° 51^ W. 
Weather beautiful. Sea smooth. 


Run—118 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 84°. 
Light airs all day. 


August 13,‘—Lat. 15° 52^ S. 

Lon. 34° 28/ W. 

Weather very fine. Sea still smooth. 


Run—79 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 80°. 
Short calms during the day. 


August 14.—Lat, 17° 55'' S. Run—146 miles, 

Lon. 35° 52' W. Temp, at noon, 76°. 

Weather beautiful. .Sounded on S.E. end of Hotspur Bank at p.m. : 
thirty-one fathoms, coral and shell bottom. 


August 15.—Lat. 20° 19' S. Run—199 miles. 

Lon. 38° 05'' W. Temp, at noon, 74°. 

Weather fine. Dry squalls and stiff breezes. Slight shower at 9 a.m. 
Sea very rough. Ship pitching badly. 

August 16.—Lat. 23° 19' S. Run—203 miles. 

Lon. 40° 00' W. Temp, at noon, 72°, 

Squally all night. Thick and misty all day. 

August 17.—Lat. 25° 46' S, Run—181 miles. 

Lon. 45° 53' W. Temp, at n nm, 72°. 

Weather beautiful. Shower in afternoon. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


51 


■V". 

At Sea, Sunday, August 17. 

Another, and the sixth continuous week of de¬ 
lightful weather. The evenings are, however, not 
quite so pleasant as heretofore on account of the 
very heavy dew, that wets everything as though a 
shower had fallen, but, being very salt, is not likely 
to give one cold. The week would have been 
without incident but for one occurrence, which 
was, however, of enough importance to interest 
us for several days. This was our overtaking the 
“Joseph S. Spinney” (the rival ship I mentioned 
Sunday, August 3), which we consider quite a 
feather in our good ship’s cap. 

August II.—At 7 A.M. a sail was reported 
ahead, visible from the fore top-gallant yard. By 
noon it could be seen from the lower topsail yard, 
and through the glass was made out to be a large 
ship bound the same way as ourselves. This 
news set the captain looking over the list of ships 
bound for San Francisco, and he at length de¬ 
clared it must be either the “Spinney” or the “H. 
S. Gregory,” another large ship that sailed from 
New York a week or ten days before we passed 
out of the Capes. So sure was he that he was 
right that he offered to bet five dollars to one 


52 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


that it would prove one vessel or the other. 1 
took the odds. 

August 12.—At daylight the stranger was in 
sight from deck, hull down, and all that day we 
slowly overtook her, spreading everything that 
would draw, and keeping the men busy from day¬ 
light to dark bracing and squaring the yards as the 
breeze hauled one way or the other. At sunset 
our rival was about six miles ahead over the lee 
bow. 

August 13.—At sunrise she lay in the same 
position, only some three miles ahead. At eight 
bells she hoisted her signals, which, to Captain 
C-’s great delight, proved her to be the “Spin¬ 

ney.” We then ran ours up, to which she replied 
by saying, “ Come alongside.” This we took to 
be a bit of sarcasm ; but she was in earnest, and, 
backing her main yard, came to a stop. As we 
drew rapidly up she signalled that she would send 
a boat for our captain to come on board in. Cap¬ 
tain hoisted, “ Shall I bring passengers ?” to which 

the “Spinney” replied, “Yes;” but Mr. X- 

declined to accompany us. By this time we were 
within half a mile of the “ Spinney,” and had met 
the boat, which was towing alongside. It was 
leaking badly, and one man had to keep bailing 
while three others pulled,—this was about half¬ 
past 10 A.M. After much trouble we got into the 
gig, and towed along with the ship until we were 




f 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 

abreast of the “ Spinney,” some five hundred 
yards to leeward, when we cast off, drifted astern, 
and pulled for the other ship. From the deck it 
had looked very smooth, but the contrast between 
the ship and the little cockle-shell we were in was 
so great that the long swells seemed like young 
mountains as we rose to their tops or sank into 
the trough. From the gig the view of the two 
ships, both with all sails set, was extremely beau¬ 
tiful. Five minutes or so and the boat reached the 
“ Spinney,” bringing up under her lee-quarter. I 
scrambled on board by way of the channels and 
shrouds, and the captain climbed up the ladder. 
We were welcomed by Captain Jordan and his 
family, which consisted of his wife, three daughters, 
aged about nineteen, twelve, and five,- and his son, 
seventeen years old. After being introduced all 
round, I went all over the ship under the guidance 
of young lady No. i. She was a beautiful vessel, 
and being some eight or nine hundred tons larger, 
made the “ Pactolus” seem quite small. 

On deck there were a number of chickens strut¬ 
ting about, all blind of one eye, and a cute little 
pig lay coiled up in a sunny corner fast asleep. 
The young lady, whose name was Carrie, was 
very pretty and polite, and sang for me that beau¬ 
tiful vocal gem, “See that my Grave’s kept Green,” 
in so sweet and touching a manner that I felt 
quite sorry that Mr. X-had not come with us. 


5^ 



54 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


that song being one of his star performances. 
The little girl also favored the company with 
music, the instrument both used being a small 
parlor organ. After the concert we discussed 
“ Pinafore” and ate raisins, while the two skippers 
talked “ passage” and compared notes. At three 
o’clock we sat down to a very nice dinner of clam- 
chowder, lobster-salad, corn, peas, and potatoes, 
with rice-pudding and cake for dessert, also sev¬ 
eral bottles of lager beer, which was prime. Din¬ 
ner being over, young Jordan took me in charge, 
and showed me the fo’castle and carpenter-shop, 
where he had a jig-saw. As a proof of his skill 
on that tool he made me a paper-cutter, which 
Miss Carrie decorated with a chromo. But the 
most wonderful thing about the ship was the 
assortment of cats they had on board. There were 
actually twenty-eight live felines of every color 
and size, from a jet-black Tom as big as a cat 
can grow to a little white kitten with its eyes 
still shut, the sole survivor of a recent lot, its 
brothers and sisters having been tossed over¬ 
board. Most of these cats were kept down be¬ 
tween decks, and lived on rats, of which there 
were great numbers. This, in fact, was the reason 
for keeping so many, and it was an experiment of 
the captain’s, the rodents having heretofore dam¬ 
aged a great deal of cargo. Miss Jordan told me 
that often at nights the cats made a terrible racket, 

/ 


ms VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 

which is easily to be believed. At 4.30 p.m. we 
signalled the “ Pactolus” to back her main yard 
and wait for us, she being then some two miles 
ahead, and at five o’clock, after bidding all good- 
by, and wishing them a pleasant voyage, the cap¬ 
tain and I went over the side into the gig again. 
Going back it did not leak, having been taken on 
board and recalked while we were paying our 
call. We had some trouble getting on board the 
“ Pactolus,” and only did so after getting well wet 
with the splashing waves. I sent Miss J. several 
novels in charge of the boatswain ; the two ships 
then each dipped the American flag three times 
and stood away again. The “ Pactolus” being 
able to sail much nearer the wind than the “ Spin¬ 
ney,” we soon drew ahead and to windward, sun¬ 
set seeing the “ Spinney” four miles astern over 
the lee quarter. 

Atigiist 14.—At sunrise our rival bore N. by 
W. eight miles, and at sunset N. by W. fifteen 
miles. At i p.m. we sounded on the eastern edge 
of Hotspur Bank, a large sunken coral reef from 
twenty-five to seventy fathoms under water, and 
fourteen by ten miles in extent. Our line ran out 
thirty-one fathoms, and the lead, which had some 
soap stuck to.its bottom for the purpose, brought 
up a few bits of coral and shells and a blade or 
two of sea-grass. 

The fishing on this bank is very fine, great 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


56 

numbers of a species of cod frequenting it, but we 
were going too rapidly to attempt capturing any. 

August 15 and 16.—Shifted our old sails for 
new and stronger ones,—a ship, queer as it 
sounds, wearing her best clothes in the worst 
weather. As they are taken down the old sails 
are brought on the roof of the after-house and 
thoroughly overhauled and mended before being 
put away in the sail-locker, from whence they will 
be pulled out to be again bent on when we strike 
the fine weather the other side of Cape Horn. 
Two sail-makers are generally employed at this 
job of patching and repairing sails. They are 
members of the crew, one being chosen from each 
watch, and while thus employed work all day and 
sleep all night, instead of turning in and out with 
their respective watches. 

August 17. — This evening a very large flying- 
fish flew on board, striking the house at the miz- 
zen shrouds. It measured over thirteen inches 
in length, and its wings had a spread of fifteen 
inches,—I have put them in a book to press. 

Through the influence of various sea stories I 
have read, my idea of a ship’s bill of fare was salt 
beef, salt pork, onions, and hard bread full of 
weevils. Like many other of my landlubber no¬ 
tions, this has been dispelled, and none more 
pleasantly. In the fo’castle, it is true, salt beef 
and pork are very extensively eaten, but in the 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


57 


cabin, if one does not like those delicacies he need 
not touch them, and still not suffer from hunger 
or want of variety. Our hours for meals are: 
breakfast, seven bells (7.30 a.m.) ; dinner, a little 
after eight bells (12 m.), and tea at three bells 
(5.30 P.M.). They are served in the forward cabin, 
the table seating four, and having in its centre a 
patent swinging-table that prevents what is placed 
on it from upsetting. The captain and I sit on 

the starboard side, Mr. X-and the mate on 

the port. For breakfast we always have coffee, 
hot biscuit, and a dish of oatmeal, cornmeal, or 
cracked hominy, eaten with molasses or honey, 
and some hot relishes, such as salt fish, ham, 
corned beef-hash, etc., with boiled potatoes. Each 
day has its regular dinner. Monday, pea-soup, 
corned beef, potatoes, dried peas boiled soft. 
Tuesday and Friday a Yankee menu, bean-soup, 
pork and beans, potatoes, and hot Boston brown 
bread. Wednesday, clam-chowder, boiled rice, 
and some canned meat with curry dressing, rice¬ 
pudding for dessert. Thursday, beef-soup, canned 
roast beef, potatoes, and canned peas or beans, 
plum-duff (which may be pronounced plum tough), 
served with butter and sugar sauce. Saturday, 
codfish, potatoes, canned tomatoes. Sunday, va¬ 
rious kinds of soups are chosen from, also a 
weekly change in the selection of meat and pota¬ 
toes, corn and macaroni, plum-duff for dessert. 



A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


58 

Duff is a kind of bread sweetened, stuck full of 
raisins, and cooked in a mould. It is served hot, 
and is highly indigestible. I eat the sauce, which 
the steward makes very well, on bread instead of 
the duff. On the days that I have put down no 
dessert we generally have pie, corn-starch some¬ 
times turning up for a change. Tea is my favorite 
meal; it is made up of tea, toast, baked or fried 
potatoes, and one of the following relishes: her¬ 
ring, sardines, canned corn-beef, or potted ham; 
also, some kind of stewed dried fruit, and cake or 
doughnuts. Our butter is excellent, the only 
drawback being its softness. The water, although 
in these regions a trifle warm, is clear and good. 
Besides what I have mentioned, there is generally 
a plate of cold salt beef and pork, cut in thin 
slices, on the table for those who wish it. Once 
in a while I take a slice of the beef, but don’t in¬ 
tend to even nibble the pork. After tea a plate 
of this meat and some bread is put on the table 
for the officers of the night-watches should they 
feel hungry. On ship, as on shore, Saturday is 
marketing day, and that afternoon the steward 
comes to the captain for the week’s supply of 
canned goods, coffee, tea, etc. These are kept in 
a big locker under the poop-deck, and I often 
creep in with the steward, and together we hatch 
up little plots concerning the Sunday dinners. 
The steward does all the baking, and is quite a 


BIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE BORN. 

dabster at it. His biscuit, bread, cake, and pie¬ 
crust are all excellent, and his doughnuts first- 
class. Everything else is prepared by the cook, 
who serves things smoking hot and perfectly 
clean, which is not the way with all ship’s cooks. 
The Celestials are a queer couple, and it is very 
amusing to hear them chattering together. The 
cook is a great singer, and warbles away over his 
work like a bird, only he never changes the tune, 
which isn’t particularly captivating. Both can talk 
some little English, the steward being the most 
easily understood. The cook is a little bit of a 
chap, fifty years old, is minus his cue, and wears 
his straight black hair banged all around. His 
parchment-like skin is drawn over his wizened 
little face as tight as a drum-head, and his black 
eyes twinkle like diamonds. Sometimes he comes 
into the carpenter-shop in the evenings and writes 
all over the bench in Chinese characters, which 
he tries to explain to us in pigeon-English, always 
ending up with, “You savvy?” He is very fond 
of the cats, which, under his patronage, have 
grown so fat that they can hardly waddle about. 
They understand Chinese enough to always run 
when he calls out some unintelligible gibberish, 
which I suppose means “Come to dinner, pussies.” 
Chin Lee, the steward, is about thirty-five years 
old, and has thick black hair, which he wears 
“ Melican style;” his skin is of a lighter shade 


6 o 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


than the cook’s. He has control of the pantry, 
waits on table, keeps the cabin in order, makes 
the beds, does the washing for captain and pas¬ 
sengers, and takes care of the birds. He is very 
neat, and keeps the cabins spotlessly clean, seem¬ 
ing to take great pride in doing so. He is never 
idle, and appears to thoroughly enjoy hard work. 
As I said before, he is learning to read and write, 
and is very proud of the fact; still, he has no idea 
of the sound of a word from its appearance, and 
only knows what is in the different cans and jars 
by experience and the pictures on the outside. 
The other day he came to me with a tin of ground 
ginger, and said, “ G-i-n-g-e-r,—mustard ?” I told 
him no, that didn’t spell mustard, and then wrote 
out the latter word on a slip of paper, by which 
means he found what he wanted. He and the cook 
are very handy and ingenious, turning the old tin 
cans into cups and platters, and this week I saw the 
latter make a first-rate rolling-pin out of a bit of 
kindling wood. Sometimes they cook themselves 
a bowl of rice, and eat it with chop-sticks, chatter¬ 
ing all the while in their own hopelessly unintelli¬ 
gible jargon. These two worthies are both mar¬ 
ried men, the difference being that the steward 
spends most of his pay for rum, while Mr. Cook, 
like a dutiful husband, sends most of his waees 
to Mrs. Cook, who is one of the few Chinese 
women who live in New York. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 6l 

In the fo’castle the bill of fare of course differs 
from that in the cabin. Salt beef and pork, hard 
bread and soft bread, potatoes, and coffee go to 
make it up. Tuesday and Friday they also have 
boiled beans, and Thursday and Sunday a coarse 
kind of duff, which is eaten with molasses. This 
latter dish is considered the treat of the week, 
and the two days on which it is served are known 
to the sailors as “ duff day,” and following the 
same rule, instead of speaking of Tuesday or Fri¬ 
day, they say “ bean day.” Their food is served 
in large pans, which one of the watch comes to 
the galley after, and it is eaten in the fo’castle, 
where each man has his knife, spoon, and plate, 
together with a tin cup for water or coffee. These 
they keep clean themselves. The salt meats are 
kept in a large barrel, called the harness cask, 
which is kept on deck at the side of the forward- 
house, and lashed down. The codfish is stored 
in a chest lashed in the mizzentop, which, like 
the main- and foretops, is in the “ Pactolus” very 
large and roomy, and is kept there so as to 
keep it thoroughly aired. It is the boy’s work 
to open this chest every Friday morning and 
get out the fish for the next day’s use. One of 
the, to me, strange dishes we have in the cabin 
is called “ tongues and sounds,” being the tongues 
and part of the stomachs of the codfish pi.t up 
in pickle. It tastes like very strong stewed clams. 

6 


62 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


One trifling drawback to the pleasures of the 
table is the generous quantity of diminutive 
roaches which manage to come to an untimely 
end in the various dishes during their prepara¬ 
tion. At first this feature of our repast was a 
source of considerable annoyance to me, but 
after wasting a good deal of time in vain efforts 
to find all the defunct intruders in my food, I 
gave up hunting for them, and now only re¬ 
move them when they appear without being 
looked for. They swarm in the galley or kitchen, 
although the cook keeps it scrupulously clean, and 
the cats are forever catching and devouring them, 
yet the supply is always at flood-tide, and the cap¬ 
tain says such is the case on almost every vessel 
afloat. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 

f 


Table for week ending August 24. 

August i8.—Lat. 28° 41' S. Run—255 miles. 

Lon. 45° 53'' W. Temp, at noon, 72°. 

Stiff breezes. Fine day’s work. Clear, but damp and disagreeable. 


August 19.—Lat. 30° 35'' S. Run—145 miles. 

Lon. 47° 38'' W. Temp, at noon, 69°. 

Gloomy and damp. Veiy rough sea. brilliant phosphorescent display, 
in the evening. 

August 20.—Lat. 33° 42' S. Run—242 miles. 

Lon. 50° 38'' \V. Temp, at noon, 63°. 

Wet and chilly. Sea much lower. Several violent squalls day and 
night. 


August 21.— I.at. 35° 43' S. Run—134 miles. 

Lon. 52° 21'' W. Temp, at noon, 72°. 

Warm and pleasant till 2 I’.M. Afternoon colder and damp. Fierce 
squalls and calms all night, with terrible thunder and lightning. 


August 22.—Lat. 37° 15'' S. Run—126 miles. 

Lon. 53° 56'' W. Temp, at noon, 52°. 

Strong gale from 4 to 8 A.M. Cold rain all day till four o’clock, when 
it cleared. Magnificent scarlet sunset. 

August 23.—Lat. 39° 46'' S. Run—165 miles. 

Lon. 54° 56'' W. Temp, at noon, 42°. 

Cold and raw. Strong winds. Very rough sea, washing inboard. 


August 24.—Lat. 41° 12' S. Run—126 miles. 

Lon. 56° 01' W. Temp, at noon, 42°. 

Quite cold. Clear and foggy by turns. Thunder, lightning, and calms 
in afternoon. 


64 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


At Sea, Sunday, August 24 

Exit fine weather,—enter assorted bad. What 
a contrast to former tables is that for the past 
week! I suppose the phrase “very fine” I have 
so constantly used hitherto in reference to the 
weather must at last be shelved, and the less 
pleasant ones used in the preceding table reign 
in its stead for a month to come. Well, we can¬ 
not complain. For forty days we have enjoyed 
an uninterrupted run of beautiful weather, not a 
single evening of the six weeks being spent in 
the cabin; in fact, I had almost forgotten that 
there were such drawbacks to a sea-voyage as 
storms, and had begun to think the stories of 
gales, deafening thunder-squalls, and other terrors 
of wind and weather mere romancing. Since last 
Monday, however. I’ve seen enough to convince 
me of their truthfulness, therefore it is not par¬ 
ticularly cheering to hear that I may expect much 
worse from here all the way round the Cape, but 
without the thunder and lightning accompaniment, 
for which thank heaven. The week has been full 
of incident, as its record will show. 

August 18.—While ploughing along through 
a heavy head sea we passed close to a small 
schooner of about one hundred or two hundred 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


65 

tons. This little craft was bound from Havre to 
the river Platte, and was the “John N. Colby,” of 
Stonington, Connecticut, a real specimen of Yan¬ 
kee grit,—grit it was to come down here in her, 
for although a fine day, and to us only a good 
breeze, the schooner was pitching like a cork 
under shortened sail, and almost every wave 
splashed over her rail. 

August 19.—During breakfast a commotion 
was heard on deck, and on going out the second 
mate reported having seen a drifting wreck 
through a rift in the fog, which was hanging in a 
thick bank right across our course. I went for¬ 
ward on the jib-boom with a pair of glasses, but 
could see nothing through the mist. Just as a 
lookout was starting to go aloft the fog cleared 
away, and about half a mile ahead, almost in our 
track, lay the wreck. Altering our course a point 
we stood for her, and backing the main yard as 
we came up, stopped within one hundred feet of 
her. She was the- Swedish brig “Oscar II.,” of 
about four hundred tons, and her captain, the beau 
ideal of a weather-beaten old sea-dog, told us in 
broken English she had been totally dismasted in 
a pampero off the Rio Grande de Sul, a small 
river leading to a town of the same name, which 
is situated on the southern extremity of the Bra¬ 
zilian coast. The pamperos are very violent 
squalls that come rushing out of the rivers along 
6 * 


66 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


these coasts, with little or no warning, and are 
much dreaded by sailors. 

On the brig everything was in disorder, the 
decks being heaped with tangled rigging and 
broken spars. All her boats, except a small gig, 
were stove in and useless. Two low jury-masts, 
one about twenty feet high the other only ten, on 
each of which was spread an old sail, had been 
rigged up, and under this sorry display of canvas 
the hulk was making for Rio Janeiro, there to 
refit. We offered the captain new spars, or any 
other help he might want, but he thanked us and 
declined, saying that as the wind was fair he 
hoped to make port in a few days. Wishing him 
a safe journey, a courtesy he returned, we squared 
away, and soon the “Oscar II.” was out of sight 
astern. She was then over four hundred miles 
from Rio, and should she have any but fair winds 
and weather it will go hard with her. This event 
made a great stir among the crew, who thronged 
up into the rigging so as to get a better look. 
Wednesday was damp and gloomy; we were on 
soundings, and the sea had lost its blue color, being 
of a dirty-green shade, caused by the shoal water, 
and also the effects of the outflowing current from 
the great river Platte, which at its mouth is over 
a hundred miles wide. Here the winds surp-e in 

o 

and out as from a pair of huge bellows, making 
the neighborhood most dangerous for vessels of 


ins VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


67 

all kinds. It is the headquarters of the pam¬ 
peros. 

The Rio de la Plata, to give the “ Platte” its full 
and correct name, is the second river of South 
America, and is translated “ River of Silver.” Dur¬ 
ing the day we were for the first time surrounded 
by a number of Cape pigeons, beautiful birds with 
white bodies, black heads, and mottled wings. 
They are just the size of an ordinary pigeon (but 
are not of that species, being so called from their 
resemblance), and have the most graceful flight of 
any bird I ever saw, never seeming to flap their 
wings, but floating up and down on the breeze as 
they sweep in graceful curves all about the ship, 
especially in the wake; they often settle in the 
water, where they look like little ducks. In the 
evening the phosphorescent display was beautiful 
beyond description. The sky was as black as the 
ace of spades, being completely overcast, and a 
rough cross-sea was breaking on our quarter. As 
the ship plunged along at the rate of ten knots 
before a stiff breeze from the northeast, throwing 
the waves aside from her bows, the foam came 
floating astern on either side in great patches, 
which glimmered like pale-green fire. On the 
weather-quarter, every few minutes a great sea 
would rise in a cone, hissing and sparkling above 
the level of the rail, as though to sweep in and 
swamp us, and then fall back into the trough 


68 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


broken into a mass of seething foam, and literally 
blazing with the phosphorescent flame. Far and 
near the surface of the ocean was glistening, as 
the waves curled and broke, or meeting together 
threw the bright spray up against the gloomy 
background of the sky. In our wake the water, 
churned to a depth of twenty feet, gleamed In a 
broad dim line for several hundred yards, and, 
to add to the beauty of the scene, a school of por¬ 
poises played about the ship, looking like meteors 
as they swiftly scudded about some fathoms be¬ 
neath the surface. Towards eleven o’clock the 
sea gradually lost Its extra brilliancy, and soon 
the usual whitish foam sprinkled with bright sparks 
was all that remained of this wonderful display of 
submarine fireworks. 

August 21.—This morning, unlike the early 
part of the week, was warm and sultry, the sun 
coming up clear; at nine o’clock the breeze died 
away, leaving us becalmed, in which condition we 
lay until 1.30. I took this opportunity, and man¬ 
aged to get up on the main royal yard, the high¬ 
est possible perch on board. In descending I 
slid down the port royal backstay to the topmast 
cross-trees, then down the top-gallant backstay to 
the level of the top; here I swung out my legs 
over the weather cross-jack brace, and pulled it 
towards me until I could catch it with both hands; 
by means of this I went hand over hand to the 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


69 

cross-jack, pulled myself up on it, and went into 
the mizzen-mast just under the top; from here I 
reached deck by sliding down the lower mizzen 
topsail-sheets, thus reaching deck from the niast- 
head without touching the shrouds, as the rope- 
ladders are called. 

During the forenoon a bottle drifted past us, 
tightly sealed and covered with barnacles ; it had 
probably been thrown from some vessel a long 
time back. To my intense disgust it was out of 
reach, and I saw it disappear astern without hav¬ 
ing the pleasure of solving the mystery of its 
contents. We also saw the carcass of a whale, 
from which the blubber had been cut. Both the 
captain and the mate said they were distrustful 
of the calm and sudden rise of temperature, the 
latter telling me it was a regular “ weather- 
breeder,” and it needed but a few hours to 
prove the truth of his words. About two o’clock 
the oppressive heat, suddenly, and without warn- 
ing, gave way to a damp, chilly atmosphere, which 
was very penetrating and disagreeable, and soon 
made it too unpleasant to stay on deck in warm- 
weather togs. This chilliness grew more decided 
as the afternoon wore on, and towards evening 
low mutterings of thunder rumbled up from the 
southwest, where a bank of black clouds, compact 
and ugly, were gradually heaving up out of the 
sky-line. The sun went down an angry globe of 


70 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


crimson flame, and almost before its upper limb 
had sunk, the damp, murky air had smothered the 
glory of the after-glow, which, during the short 
time it lasted, presented a most billions spectacle. 
At four bells (6 p.m.), the gloom having greatly 
increased, there came on a cold, drizzling rain, and 
at the same hour several flashes of chain-light¬ 
ning zigzagged a warning across the southwestern 
sky, in the direction of the river’s mouth, followed 
by a low growl of thunder that, distant as it was, 
seemed to make the ocean tremble. As night 
came on, it grew blacker than pitch; and an occa¬ 
sional cat’s-paw of warm wind came puffing up 
from the same direction. Aloft the canvas was 
thoroughly snugged, the running-gear was over¬ 
hauled and made ship-shape, the decks cleared of 
all unnecessary stuff, and then in the inky dark¬ 
ness, heavily rolling on the oil-like swells, we 
awaited, without any very apparent symptoms of 
pleasure, the opening of the performance to which 
nature was then giving us the overture. At eight 
bells it again fell dead calm, and the drizzle 
stopped for an hour, while the thunder once more 
began its growling afar off, with the same sup¬ 
pressed power noticed before. The captain say¬ 
ing that we were “ in for the devil of a kick up, 
and no mistake,” and that all hands would prob¬ 
ably be on deck all night, I made up my mind 
not to turn in as usual, but to stay with the skip- 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN 


per and see the show. Mr. X-cast his vote 

the other way, and vanished below. Shortly after 
nine o’clock the rain commenced sprinkling again, 
but with no renewal of the gusts, and, going be¬ 
low, I rigged myself out from top to toe in oil¬ 
skins and rubber. By ten the drizzle had increased 
to a pelting torrent of rain, the air was still and 
very cold, and the lightning resumed operations 
at short intervals, much closer than before, while 
the muttering and groaning of the thunder had 
swelled into very discouraging booms. Then 
down through the drenching blackness, from each 
•royal mast-head and yard-arm tip, there slowly 
gleamed out a dim glare of pale-blue fire, which 
flickered in the most ghostly way, now going 
out, now reappearing, sometimes as a ball and 
then as a plume, but always looking spectral and 
unreal. These phantom visitors, which added 
considerable weight to the already appalling 
gloom of the situation, are called, to quote the 
captain, composants, and were caused by an ex¬ 
cess of electricity in the atmosphere. I recollect 
having seen a picture of a ship thus decorated, in 
which they were called St. Elmo’s fire. 

Towards eleven o’clock the steady down-pour 
eased off a bit, but a sharp squall from the south¬ 
west came breezing along bringing it on again, 
and then with a rush came the storm. Every 
moment the thunder and lightning increased in 



72 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


power, until at last it seemed as if the arch-fiend 
himself, backed by a legion of lesser Beelzebubs, 
was overseeing the hideous din. For six hours 
the storm was terrific; not so much in the matter 
of wind, for at times it was calm ; nor in the sea 
running, for that was but moderately rough, but 
in the frightful vividness of the lightning and the 
terrible crashing of the thunder. The bolts of 
lightning fairly hissed as they forked around and 
across the ship in blinding flashes of pink or blue 
or white flame, dazzling one’s eyes so that they 
ached for hours afterwards. To attempt to de¬ 
scribe the thunder would be folly; almost con¬ 
tinually for six hours it crashed about us, each 
tremendous discharge making the ship tremble 
and quiver to her keelson, and half stunning us 
as we stood terror-stricken at the fury and power 
of the storm. Never did I experience such fear, 
and all hands, from the captain to the cook, ac¬ 
knowledge the same feeling of terror. The storm 
itself was terrifying enough, but when supple¬ 
mented with the knowledge that the standing rig¬ 
ging was a net-work of wire ropes and chains, and 
that under our feet lay an immense mass of gun¬ 
powder, our feelings may be better imagined than 
described. That the ship was not struck seems 
little less than a miracle, and I think what saved 
her was the fact of the spars and rigging being so 
heavily charged with electricity before the storm 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


73 

broke. During the first half of the storm the wind 
would at times come rushing up from the south¬ 
west, then drop away altogether, and in a. few 
minutes afterwards blow great guns from an en¬ 
tirely different direction ; in fact, we had squalls 
from nearly every point of the compass. It was 
during the calm spells that came between these 
squalls, and when the ship swung heavily from 
side to side, that the storm seemed most terrible. 
At 3 A.M. it settled into a steady blow from the 
northwest, which rapidly stiffened into a gale, and 
the ship was put under reefed topsails, reefed 
mainsail and foresail; at four o’clock the upper 
topsails and mainsail were furled, and the foresail 
reefed, and under this latter and reefed lower top¬ 
sails we ran until 7 a.m. The crew were com¬ 
pletely fagged out: twelve men being aloft nearly 
two hours trying to furl the mainsail. At six 
o’clock the wind in a great measure died away; 
the clouds began to scatter, and the thunder and 
lightning rapidly drew away, passing but to sea¬ 
ward of us; at seven a cold drizzle set in, which 
lasted all day. Both the captain and mate, who 
have spent most of their lives at sea, say they 
never went through so terrible a night before, and 
both acknowledged that they thought themselves 
booked for Davy Jones. 

Atigtist 22.—We were again surrounded by the 
Cape pigeons. They are perfectly ravenous, and 
D 7 


74 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


will eat anything we throw overboard. Drop a 
bit of pork fat or bread no larger than a cent, and 
instantly they will have it. They come right up 
under the rail in their hurry to grab the morsels. 
They always have to settle before feeding, and it 
is very curious to see one or more dying at full 
speed, spy a bit of food, throw back their wings, 
and drop beside it. Should it be sinking, they 
dive after it. When several tackle the same piece 
they fight and cackle at a great rate. The after¬ 
noon being nearly calm I baited a small fish-hook 
with pork, and scattered some small bits about in 
the water. The pigeons promptly ate all the loose 
bits, and then turned their attention to the piece 
on the hook. A great many picked at it, but for an 
hour I couldn’t hook one. At last, however, one 
unlucky chap got the barb fastened in his bill, and 
was hauled on board struggling bravely. Being 
unfit to eat I let it go again, after shutting it up 
for a while in the cabin along with our youngest 
cat. Puss has been almost crazy since the birds 
came around, sitting up on the rail at the risk of 
falling overboard, and following them in their 
dight with her eyes for an hour at a time, and 
occasionally uttering a dismal “ meyow.” She 
also sharpened her claws very often, which led 
us to think she would tackle a bird with great 
vigor. But when pussy was brought face to face 
with our pigeon she weakened. For a while she 


N/S VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


75 


only sat and looked at it sitting on the floor, then 
she w^nt a little closer, when the bird hit her a 
slap right across the face with its wing. That 
finished the encounter, for the kitten retired under 
the sofa, from which retreat she could not be 

coaxed. Mr. X-, by the way, slept calmly all 

through last night’s uproar, and was astonished 
when he heard about it. He was likewise very 
much tickled at having dodged the experience, 
althouorh, now that it is all over. I’m glad I was on 
deck. The second mate acknowledged to me to¬ 
day that the storm was “ no slouch of a rumpus,” 
but proceeded to relate a yarn about another he 
once witnessed, which, to quote him, “ was as far 
ahead of last night’s as last night’s was ahead of 
a bunch of fire-crackers.” It has to be a big 
thing that Mr. D—^— can’t see and go several 
better. 

August 24.—To-day, for the first time, I saw an 
albatross. They are very handsome birds, with 
the same graceful flight as the pigeons, only 
slower, and are much larger than I had thought, 
some measuring twelve or fourteen feet across 
the wings. 




II 


70 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week ending August 31. 

August 25.—Lat. 40° 43^ S. Run—57 miles. 

Lon. 56° 40' W. Temp, at noon, 49°. 

Warmer; mostly calm. Very heavy fog in evening. 

August 26.—Lat. 41° 44' S. Run—146 miles. 

Lon. 59° oU W. Temp, at noon, 49°. 

Fine all A.M. Strong squalls from 2 to 5 P.M., with thunder and light¬ 
ning. Hail and snow squalls all night. Tremendous sea. 

August 27.—Lat. 44° 13'' S. Run—236 miles. 

Lon. 62° 45"' W. Temp, at noon, 35°. 

Sea still very high. Moderate gale from N. W. Fine moonlight night. 

August 28.—Lat. 48° 09^ .S. Run—237 miles. 

Lon. 64° 52^ W. Temp, at noon, 31°. 

Gale from S. W. Hail and rain at intervals. 


August 29.- 


Lon. 65° 2 \' 
Gale moderating. Very c 


Run—157 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 30°. 


August 30.—Lat. 52° 59' S. 

Lon. 64° 19' W. 


Run—173 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 33°. 


Snow, hail, sleet, and rain. High head sea. 


August 31.—Lat. 53° 39' S. Run—115 miles. 

Lon. 64° 07' W. Temp, at noon, 36°. 

Cold and fine. Superb sunset. Full moon. Sighted Staten Land at 
I I P.M., twenty-eight miles ahead. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


77 




1 % 


iV 


•VII. 

At Sea, Sunday, August 31. 

The weather down here is like the little girl 
who— 

“ When she was good, was very, veiy good. 

But when she was bad, she was horrid.” 

Monday and Tuesday mornings, last evening, and 
all to-day belong to the first, and the rest of 
the week to the second half of the couplet. We 
have been running down along the coast of Pata¬ 
gonia all the week, through the “ roaring forties,” 
as these latitudes are called, keeping well in 
towards the land, but not sighting it, except for a 
short time Thursday afternoon, when it could just 
be made out from aloft, about thirty miles on the 
starboard beam, and having the appearance of a 
low fog-bank. 

August 25.—At dayliglit we were within a mile 
of a large skysail yard ship, which had appeared 
on Sunday, the 24th instant, but I forgot to note it 
down. She turned out to be the “St.John,” one 
of our owner’s ships, and registers something over 
two thousand tons. She was then seventy-one 
days out from Liverpool, bound for Callao, Peru. 
Her very long passage, she signalled, had been 
caused by an awful dose of “doldrums” north of 
1 * 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


78 

the line. What makes the meeting of the two 
vessels curious is the fact that just about a year 
ago both ships were down here, our captain 
having charge of the “St. John,” and her present 
captain having command of the “ Pactolus.” Cap¬ 
tain C-had a hard time of it in the “ St. John,” 

the voyage being a chapter of accidents from 
start to finish. Besides having his first mate sick 
in bed for ninety days, his other officers were 
most inferior and unreliable. * The steering-gear 
broke down in the South Atlantic, and he had to 
venture around the “ Horn” with a patched-up 
affair. He lost one man by sickness and one by 
drowning, and to cap the climax, was run into at 
I A.M. one dark morning off Cape Horn by an 
iron bark. The ship was cut just forward of the 
fore rigging, the bark’s bows crushing in some 
ten or twelve feet, but not cutting quite down to 
the water-line. On the bark the damage was a 
broken jib-boom and bowsprit and loss of the 
foremast-stays. The captain says only the mild 
state of the sea prevented both vessels from 
going down. One of the bark’s crew in attempt¬ 
ing to scramble on board the “ Pactolus,” was 
crushed between the two vessels and cut in half. 
The ship was one hundred and forty-nine days in 
reaching ’Frisco. During to-day, which has been 
mostly calm, we saw a whale, a seal, and several 
penguins, queer birds about the size of a duck, 



ms VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


79 

that swim under water, only coming to the surface 
for ai|*. They swim almost as fast as any fish and 
venture long distances from shore, we being at 
the time over a hundred miles off the nearest 
coast. Being unable to fly on account of the 
diminutive pattern of their wings, which are used 
as fins when in the water, they waddle about in 
the most comical manner when on shore, so the 
mate who has seen them there tells me. In the 
afternoon the captain shot a pigeon with his rifle, 
and I shot at several. 

August 26.—This afternoon we had a repeti¬ 
tion, on a much smaller scale, of the terrible ex¬ 
perience off the river Platte, with the addition 
of a very high sea. The seas were tremendous, 
several whoppers coming inboard. At one time 
the main deck was full to within a foot of the top 
of the rail, the men either floating or under water 
in the lee-scuppers. 

August 27;—Our fiftieth day out, and a splendid 
run we have made so far. I celebrated the occasion 
by being knocked down by a sea that tumbled in on 
me as I was standing on the weather side of the 
poop, just forward of the mizzen-shrouds. I was 
talking to the second mate, and was paying more 
attention to one of his unbelievable yarns than to 
the ocean, when all of a sudden I saw a big wave 
tower over us, and before I could jump away 
down it came, laying me out as flat as a Pinafore 


gQ A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 

joke, and washing me aft some thirty feet, where 
the captain threw himself into the attitude of a 
wicket-keeper at cricket and stopped me cleverly. 
I was wet through, and my boots were filled with 
salt water; I thought for a moment that I was 
overboard, and was about as well scared as possi¬ 
ble. Mr. D-was carried in an opposite direc¬ 

tion on to the main-deck and brought up under 
the pumps, from which position it took a couple 
of sailors to pull him out. 

August 28.—We ran past a bark under double- 
reefed topsails; she was pitching fearfully. All 
to-day we have been accompanied by a large school 
of right-whale porpoises. They are striped black 
and white, and have much quicker movements 
than the common black species ; often we could 
see them shooting through the crest of a big wave 
far above the level of the ship’s deck. 

August 29.—To-day the gale suddenly shifted to 
the southwest and south, blowing directly in our 
teeth, and so continued until late in the after¬ 
noon, when it sank to a fresh breeze. Mixed up 
with these blows there has been, as the table 
shows, a varied assortment of rain, snow, hail, 
and sleet squalls, which cut the face like needles. 
The quotations of the thermometer give but little 
idea of the cold, the fierce wind and cutting rain 
or spray making it many times worse than the 
figures would seem. The whole appearance of 



HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


8 


the ship is changed. Everything about the decks 
is strongly battened down, the windows across the 
weather side of the houses are covered with strong 
wooden shutters, heavy breakwaters have been 
lashed amidships to break the force of incoming 
seas, extra tackle made ready in case of accident is 
hanging at the foot of the mizzen-mast, and a life¬ 
line stretches across the poop-deck, to grab at in 
case of a wave washing over that part of the ves¬ 
sel. Instead of a cloud of canvas we only carry 
the heavy lower sails, making the upper part of 
the masts look bare and forlorn. The decks are 
often swimming a foot deep with water, and are 
never dry. The men, who are now prevented 
from working about or aloft at their usual jobs, 
are only worked at tending the sails, and between 
orders stay under the lee of the forward house. 
They look very odd, being swelled to nearly twice 
their natural size by their thick clothes, over which 
they wear oil-skin coats and trowsers, and also 
rubber “sou’wester” hats. Those that have new 
suits of oil-skins look like mammoth canary-birds, 
tlie color of the garments being a bright yellow. 
Through all their hardships, and this weather is 
really very hard on them, they seem as cheerful 
as possible, and sing their queer, monotonous 
songs with a vim when pulling on the ropes 
where all hands or a whole watch is needed. 
At these times the carpenter is expected to lend 
/ 


32 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 

a hand, and when on deck I too catch hold and 
help pull. The song, or “ shantee,” as they call 
it, which is sung when a whole watch or more 
are hauling, consists in the leader singing a line, 
then all hands the chorus, which is only one line 
long, and at the same time giving two long, 
steady pulls ; as the‘leader chants the next line 
the men rest, then another chorus and pull, 
and so on until the yard is hoisted or the sail 
sheeted home. Of course I too have to wear 
very different clothes from the cheviot shirt and 
straw hat costume of warm latitudes. I am now 
attired in the following: thick Scotch cap, heavy 
silk muffler, under-shirt and two flannel shirts, 
vest, jacket, and two pairs of trowsers, two pairs 
of socks, heavy rubber boots, and over all my big 
ulster. With all this on it is a good deal like 
work to go aloft, but up I go every day, rain or 
shine, generally stopping at the tops, now that 
my sea-togs are so heavy and cumbersome. The 
cold weather has the advantages of cooling the 
drinking-water and making the butter as hard as 
ice. 

The head-sea to-day was awful, and to stand up 
without holding on to something quite impossi¬ 
ble, the ship seeming to stand right up on her 
stern and bow; yet with all the pitching and 
rolling she does, so perfect is the model of her 
hull that the motion is seldom jarring. Luckily 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


83 

for me, through all these blows my bunk has 
been to leeward, and my seat at table to wind¬ 
ward, so that I have been in no danger of tum¬ 
bling out of the first, or of getting a plate of 
soup in my lap while at table. To-day we crossed 
the fiftieth degree of latitude south of the equator, 
from which point to fifty degrees south in the Pacific 
is commonly recognized among sailors as going 
around Cape Horn. 

August 30.—Wore ship this p.m. for the first 
time, there being too much sea on to tack, and 
stood in towards land, as we were getting too far 
to the eastward. The charts are now kept on 
the cabin-table all the time, and are consulted at 
short intervals day and night. 

August 31.—The week winds up with a day 
clear, cold, and bracing, a sunset magnificent in 
the extreme, and a brilliant moonlight evening. 


84 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week ending September 7. 


September i.—Lat. 55° S. 

Lon. 640 34^ W. 

Clear, cold, and fine. Moonlight. 

September 2.—Lat. 57° 04"^ S.* 

Lon. 68° 15^ W. 

Light airs and calms most all day 
twenty-two miles to the N. W., at 4 p 

September 3.—Lat. 56° 38'' S. 

Lon. 71° 51^ W. 

Cold and rainy. Heavy S. W. swell. 

September 4.—Lat. 55° ii^ S. 

Lon. 76° 36^ W. 

Cold and raw. High swell from S. 
gigantic sea. 


Run—153 miles. 

'hemp, at noon, 34°. 

Passed Cape Horn at 11.30 p.m. 

Run—200 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 39°. 

Sighted Diego Ramirez Islands, 
, from upper foretop-sail yard. 

Run—131 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 37°. 

Run—196 miles. 

Temp, at noon, 38°. 

Heavy gale all night, wifh 


September 5.—Lat. 53° 29'' S. Run—167 miles. 

Lon. 77° 25^ W. Temp, at noon, 46°. 

Gale all day. Head-sea running “ mountains high.’’ 

September 6.—Lat. 53° 53' S. Run—97 miles. 

Lon. 79° 29' W. Temp, at noon, 44°. 

Moderate gale. Sea still high. Very little progress. 


September 7.—Lat. 53° 04^^ S. Run—61 miles. 

Lon. 79° 39' W. Temp, at noon, 46°. 

Fine day. Sea lower. Cold, rainy evening. 


* Farthest point south. 



HxS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN, 


85 


At Sea, Sunday, September 7. 

Around Cape Horn, and off for San Francisco. 
The weeks and weeks of sailing south have done 
their work, at last the dreaded Cape, our half-way 
house, is passed, the Atlantic is far astern ; and 
now, ploughing the waves of the South Pacific, 
the good ship heads for the north and civilization. 
Sixty-one days out and around Cape Horn is a 
fine record, and with ordinary luck we’ll make a 
rapid passage. I hope so, Pm sure, for the cap¬ 
tain’s sake, and the sake of those at home, who, 
unacquainted with the many harmless ways we 
might be detained, would perhaps worry were 
the voyage long-drawn out. One hundred and 
twenty days would just ■suit me, bringing me 
to ’Frisco November 5. Ten days on shore to 
see the city and neighborhood, as well as to 
tackle a few beefsteaks and fresh fruits, and then 
take the steamer of the 15th for Yokohama. By 
catching this boat I would be landed in Japan by 
Christmas-day, which I’m not particularly anxious 
to pass at sea. But with some seven thousand 
miles still between us and port, any attempt to 
figure our arrival down very fine would be fool¬ 
ish. Cape Horn was on its best behavior when 
8 


86 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


we came around; I had expected a gale that 
would fairly blow my hair out by the roots. 
Ever since leaving home I have heard and read 
stories of the fierce storms that most ships en¬ 
counter off the Cape. 

Vessels are sometimes as much as ninety days 
beating to the westward, a month is common 
enough, and very often ships are compelled to 
put back all the way to “ Rio” for repairs. This 
ship once, when just off the Cape, was headed 
off by a gale that blew her back for six days, 
and landed her so far to the eastward that she 
was over two weeks in again reaching Cape 
Horn. 

The reason of the strength of these constant 
westerly winds is that for thousands of miles no 
land intervenes to break their velocity and power 
as they come sweeping over the whole extent of 
the Pacific. On this parallel of latitude a ship 
could steer a straight westerly course right round 
the world, and no other place on the globe offers 
the same chance. The great preparation we 
made for buckling the Cape was more evidence 
of a rough time coming. All our light and old 
sails taken down, and strong new ones bent in 
their place. The hatches double-lashed to the 
decks, breakwaters rigged amidships, to break 
the force of any stray seas that should tumble 
inboard, everything securely battened down, ex- 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN 


87 


tra tackles placed where they would be handy in 
case of anything giving way, and a hundred other 
little matters which would take too lone to write 
about. 

Well, on each side of the Cape we had some 
rough weather: one gale on the eastern coast 
of Patagonia, and another on this side, and a 
week or two of most disagreeable sleet, rain, 
and snow squalls. But a regular out and out 
Cape Horn blow didn’t show up, although the 
sample of last Friday, which was the finish of 
a genuine A No. i gale, was enough to show 
me what the weather clerk could do if he really 
tried. 

It certainly was a pleasant surprise in the face 
of all our fears to go skipping around the Cape 
before a stiff easily breeze, with all the kites set, 
and the moon shining brightly overhead, and still 
more surprised were we when the next day we 
found ourselves lying becalmed off the Cape 
proper, where we had looked for the hardest 
blow of the voyage. But then there are excep¬ 
tions to every rule, that of Cape Horn weather 
included, although such are few and far between. 

I left off last Sunday by saying it was a “ bril¬ 
liant moonlight eveningshortly after I had fin¬ 
ished writing and turned in, the second mate 
called down the companion-way that there was 
an iceberg ahead. On hearing this the captain 


88 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


was on deck in about thirty seconds, and Mr. 

X-and I followed a minute later; but it 

was a false alarm. Instead of an iceberg there 
loomed up, some twenty-five miles to the south¬ 
ward, one of the highest mountains of Staten 
Land (a large island lying off the eastern coast 
of Terra del Fuego), its snow-covered top shining 

in the moonlight having deceived Mr. D-. 

The body of the island was hidden by clouds, 
and this one peak alone was visible; ten minutes 
afterwards it had disappeared. 

Septe 7 nber i.—At sunrise this morning the ship 
was abreast of the island, about ten miles off shore, 
and as the sun came up clear and brilliant, an en¬ 
ormous black squall that had until then completely 
shut out a view of the land slowly drifted away. 
A more beautiful scene than that which then broke 
upon us I never beheld ; the whole extent of Staten 
Land stood out clear-cut against a black sky be¬ 
yond; the mountains, which extended from end to 
end, were covered to their tops with snow, and the 
rising sun shining on them tinged the most ex¬ 
posed sides and angles with a delicate pink shade, 
and cast into deep shadow the valleys and great 
fissures in the sides of the cliffs. In some parts 
the mountains curved down to the water’s edge 
in great sheets of unbroken whiteness, and in 
others the dark rugged cliffs rose straight from 
the waves to the height of a thousand feet. 




HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


89 

For an hour we enjoyed the widely beautiful 
scene, which as the sun rose higher and higher 
constantly changed its brilliant hues, until at last 
another tremendous squall slowly shut out the 
view, and when some hours later it was again 
clear, the island was almost out of sight. Staten 
Land or Island (both names being used) is about 
forty miles long, extending east-northeast and 
west-southwest, and lying about one hundred and 
fifty miles northeast of Cape Horn. It averages 
four miles in width. Precipitous hills from two 
thousand to three thousand feet high form a 
rugged backbone the entire length of the island, 
which, by the way, is also known as the Court of 
taolus, on account of the constant squalls and 
storms there, and it is said that every day year in 
and year out the squalls are as sure to come as 
the sun is to rise. It is uninhabited, and the har¬ 
bors are few and wretched ; wild celery and vari¬ 
ous kinds of sea-birds abound (as the geographies 
say), and the rocks are covered with a peculiar 
kind of sea-weed which grows to the length of 
several hundred feet, and is so wide and tough 
that cups, buckets, and pans can be made of it. 

11.30 p.M. we passed the longitude of Cape 
Horn and at the same time into the Pacific Ocean, 
- after a run of eight thousand four hundred and 
seventy-six miles in fifty-five and one-third days 
from Delaware Bay, a daily average of one hun- 
8 * 


90 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


clrecl and fifty-three and one-sixth miles. We 
were tlien thirty miles south of the Cape proper, 
which is a small island and of no account at all 
in itself, being only about a mile or two square. 
I stayed on deck until midnight. The sky was 
covered with patches of swiftly moving clouds, 
which now and then shut out the bright moonlight 
as they drifted across her disk. The ship was 
running very rapidly before a fresh northeast 
breeze, every rag that would draw set, and really 
presented a beautiful appearance. The surface 
of the ocean was a mass of roaring breakers, 
caused by the strong westerly current running in 
a contrary direction to the wind, which as they 
broke into foam looked in the bright moonlight 
like heaps of snow. Right overhead sparkled 
the Southern Cross, now seen at its best. It is a 
very beautiful constellation ; from this time it will 
gradually sink behind us. 

September 2.—The ship lay becalmed all the 
morning, light breezes springing up after dinner. 
Made out the Diego Ramirez rocks at 4 p.m., 
from the fore top-gallant yard, twenty-two miles 
ahead, the ship then heading northwest. These 
are a cluster of great barren rocks fifty-four miles 
southwest of Cape Horn, and are the most south¬ 
erly land of South America. There are three 
principal rocks and many lesser ones in the 
group, which extends northwest and southeast 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN, 


91 

four or five miles. Numberless sea-birds, and 
some seals, live on them. 

The ship “ St. John,” I mentioned last week had 
a very narrow escape from being lost on these 
rocks when on her way home from ’Frisco a year 
or two ago. She had been running by dead 
reckoning before a “ westerly” for several days, 
when one pitch-dark night she ran at full speed 
straight between two of the largest rocks, through 
a narrow channel a mile long; so close was she 
to the rocks that the breakers carried away all 
her starboard rail. 

September 5.—During the afternoon and night 
we had the hardest gale of the voyage so far, and 
from the tremendous sea running from that direc¬ 
tion it was certainly the finishing touch of a regu¬ 
lar sou’wester, although the wind had hauled 
around to the northwest. The sail report taken 
from the log will show how it came on to blow 
harder and harder. “Up to i p.m. all sail; 1 p.m. 
furled royals; 2 p.m. furled top-gallant-sails; 2.30 
P.M. furled cross-jack and reefed upper topsails 
and spanker; 3 p.m. furled upper topsails and jib; 
3.45 P.M. furled mainsail and reefed foresail. So 
until 9 A.M. Saturday, when the wind moderated 
and set upper topsails and mainsail,” etc. The 
ship was pitching right into the head-sea, her 
bows going under at every dip and flooding the 
decks with water, so sleep was out of the question, 


92 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


and to stand up without some support impossible. 
I climbed out of my bunk in short order to prevent 
being tossed out, which would not have been at 
all amusing, as I use the upper one. 

September 6.—The ocean presented a magnifi¬ 
cent sight, the truly gigantic waves towering 
above us at one moment and the next lifting the 
ship high in their crests as though she were a bit 
of cork. The seas had lengthened out consider¬ 
ably and the ship no longer plunged head on into 
them, but rose and fell with an easy, pleasant mo¬ 
tion. During this blow it was and still is a diffi¬ 
cult feat to eat, one’s whole time being occupied^ 
while at table in watching that the plates don’t 
deposit their contents in one’s lap. The swinging 
castor gave me a gentle rap on the cheek to-day 
that has left its mark for some time to come. 

Being this week in iceberg regions, we have at 
night doubled the forward lookout, and had an 
extra man stationed on the poop-deck. The 
officer on watch also tries the temperature of 
the water every half-hour as a further precaution 
against these dangerous objects. None have ap¬ 
peared, however. To-day the sea is much lower, 
but still very high, and running strong. These 
long swells, whose tops are about one thousand 
feet apart, are found here all the year round, and 
are peculiar to Cape Horn, only building up close 
together in a regular gale. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


93 


September 7.—Like last Sunday, to-day has been 
a fine one, but unlike last Sunday evening, to¬ 
night is chill and rainy, and most disagreeable, 
except in the cabin. This morning I remarked to 
the second mate that it was odd we had sighted 
no ice, and as usual he took the cue and proceeded 
to spin me a yarn on the subject broached. As a 
specimen of his efforts you shall have it as best 
I can remember it. 

“Yes,” said he, “it is a bit queer, but there’s 
time yet to clap our eyes on ice before we get 
away from these parts, tho’ for my part I don’t 
much care about seein’ none. Ice, you see, Mr. 
Mac, is always a nuscience at sea, and no skipper 
likes to have it about. I’ve seen a good bit of it 
in my time, and about three years ago I was down 
just about this very place ; I had enough of it 
then to last me for a eood while to come. You 
see I was second mate of the ‘ British Racer,’ an 
old eighteen-hundred-ton ‘lime-juicer,’ and we was 
carryin’ coal from Cardiff to’Frisco (a ‘lime-juicer,’ 
I must tell you, is sea-slang for an English vessel, 
the English law making it compulsory for the 
captain to serve his crew with a certain amount 
of lime-juice per man per day, as a preventive 
against scurvy). Well, sir, we was gettin’ along 
right smartly, and had come ’round the Cape just 
as nice as we did here the other night, with the 
kites up and even two or three stuns’ls out, and 


94 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


the old man, Cap’n Gordon, of Belfast, was just 
as pleased as pie. One night when it was my 
middle watch, I was goin’ for’ad to see that 
the lookout wasn’t asleep, when just by the fore 
shrouds I was met with a puff of hot air that had 
a gassy sort of smell, and quick as a wink I 
knowed we was a-fire somewhere below. That 
soft coal is blank for a-breakin’ out a-fire, and so 
I knowed at once what was the row. I bolted 
for the old man’s cabin, and turned him out in 
no time by sayin’ what I found out for’ad, and 
he didn’t lose no time gettin’ on deck, runnin’ 
out just as he was, about half dressed. You 
see, he had a good slice of the ship himself, and 
I guess the old girl wasn’t insured very high. 
‘V/ell,’ says he, when we’d taken a look at 
things and saw that the seams was beginnin’ to 
smoke a little, ‘here’s ago and no mistake! ain’t it, 

Mr. D-?’ And I says, ‘Yes, cap’n, it is, and 

a blank bad one, too.’ ‘ I didn’t want to load the 
blank stuff,’ says he, gettin’ mad all at once, ‘’cause 
I knowed its dirty tricks and ways ; but it’s aboard 
now and burnin’, and now wot’s to be done? for,’ 
says he, slow and solemn-like, ‘ this here ship is 
booked for the bottom, and that, too, afore many 

days. Call the mate, Mr. D-, and then all 

hands.’ 

“ V/hen the men was all amidships, the old man 
gives out what I’d found, and orders the pumps 




HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


95 


to be rigged, and a couple of lines of pipe run 
down through the deck where it was hottest, 
which was well for’ad, as I said before. • All that 
night and the next day we pumped and pumped 
water into her, and then pumped and pumped it 
out again, but it didn’t seem to do any good, as 
the smoke came out thicker and thicker each hour, 
till it was plain as the mains’l we couldn’t drown 
the blaze. In the first dog-watch we give over 
tryin’, and the old man says, ‘ Me lads, this here’s 
a bad job, and it looks tho’ the “ Racer” was run¬ 
ning a pretty straight course for Davy Jones; the 
port watch’ll start in and get the boats ready for 
leavin’ the ship, and the starboard watch’ll begin 
bringin’ out some stores.’ 

“All that night we was hard at it, and by mornin’ 
had the boats well fixed and ready to let fall at a 
minute’s notice. About three bells that evenin’ we 
was takin’ our tea, when a fellow in my watch that 
we called Scopey, ’cause his eyes was reg’lar tele¬ 
scopes for spyin’ things, sings out, ‘Ice ahead, two 
p’ints on the port bow !’ And sure enough, when 
the ship rose up again there was a little twinklin’ 
spot right on the sky-line, a-shinin’ like a diamond. 
The old man pops below, and pops up again with 
his glass, and then takes a good long look at the 
stranger, t’wards the end of which look I sees a 
pleased-like expression come over his face. ‘ Let 
lier go off a p’int,’ says he to the man at the wheel. 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


96 

‘ and keep her nor by west, a quarter west/ ‘ Ay, 
ay, sir!’ says the man, and we began runnin’ freer 
and straight for the ice. Soon after that it come 
on dark and we took in considerable sail, so as to 
slack up our speed, and at sun-up next mornin’ 
made the ice about six miles ahead, a reg’lar old 
giant of a berg, sparklin’ in the sun like a million 
tons of mother-o’-pearl. There was a easy breeze 
blowin’, just where we wanted it, and makin’ the 
ship as easy to handle as a pilot-boat. ‘ Run for 
it,’ says the old man to Mr. Corker, the mate, ‘and 
let’s see what it looks like close on.’ Pretty soon 
we was within half a mile of it, and certainly it was 
grand, bein’, I should judge, about a mile long by 
nearly as much wide, and heavin’ up in some 
places eleven or twelve hundred feet. ‘ Back the 
main yard, Mr. Corker,’ says the old man, ‘ and 
get away the whale-boat. I think I’ll go ashore 
and do a little prospectin’. Six men here, tumble 

in, you with ’em, Mr. D-,’ and in no time we 

was off and pullin’ for the ice. The old man 
soon sees a place where landin’ was easy, a reg’¬ 
lar ice-wharf extendin’ back about two hundred 
yards, and as level as the deck of a ship layin’ at 
anchor, and we pulls alongside of it, makin’ fast 
to a spike drove into the ice. The old man tum¬ 
bled out, and, tellin’ us to wait, sticks his hands 
into his pockets and walks off When he comes 
back he was all smiles, and sings out, ‘ Hit her up 



HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN 


97 

now, boys, and we’ll soon be as snug as tho’ we 
was safe ashore in Liverpool.’ When we gets 
back to the ‘Racer,’ and was aboard-again, he 
says, as cheerful as you please, tho’ the old girl 
was a-smokin’ away for’ad like a blank volcaner 
‘Take in the r’yals and t’gall’nts, Mr. Corker, and 
s’pose you let go the upper tops’l halliards too. 
Work her up close to the berg under the courses, 
and back the main yard just off that flat p’int 
where I made a landin’.’ When we was there he 
sends two hawsers ashore, and makes ’em fast to 
a couple of spars planted in the ice, and then 
warps the old gal up to the ice-wharf as neat and 
ship-shape as if we was tyin’ up to a reg’lar civil¬ 
ized dock, tho’ of course the ship scraped a bit on 
account of the sea. ‘ Knock away the bulwarks 
alongside the ice, Mr. Corker,’ says the old man, 
almost laughin’ he was so pleased, and we soon 
had ’em down and the deck about level with the 
flat part of the berg. Well, sir, we just cleaned 
that ship out, takin’ ashore, as we called it, all the 
stores and tools and lumber and sails, even to the 
rag carpet off the cabin floor and the rubber balls 
what the kittens used to play with about the deck. 

‘ Now, men,’ says the old man, when there was 
nothin’ else as could very well be shifted, and we 
was about used up, ‘off with the main hatch, and 
begin passin’ out the cargo. The fire hasn’t 
tackled that part yet, and we can get a fair bit 
K <7 9 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


98 

of it out afore the ship is too hot to work on for, 
lucky for us, the breeze carried the smoke that 
was pourin’ out for’ad clean away from us, which 
prevented our bein’ choked to death. Now the 
men took this order as pretty hard lines, and, 
seein’ how they’d been workin’, it did look kinda 
rough. ‘ Wot’s the use o’ that?’ says one of’em, 
speakin’ for the crowd. ‘We’re blank near dead 
a’ready, and don’t see wot you want the coal for, 
nohow; we’ve plenty o’ wood to burn.’ 

“‘Wot!’ says the old man, gettin’ hot, ‘is that 
the way you’re goin’ to act after me showin’ such 
kindness to ye for three whole months? Here, now, 
tumble to, and no sulkin’. Why, blank your lazy 
hides, I’ll take a hand meself.’ And he off’s with 
his pea-jacket and starts in. That cheered the 
boys up a bit, and so they went to work with a 
will, and never stopped till there was near seven 
hundred tons of coal safe and sound on the ice, 
and well back from the edge. At last we couldn’t 
work no longer, for the flames broke out and just 
went for things like a lot of hungry tigers. ‘ Cast 
her off!’ yells the old man, and the next minit 
the old g^l was driftin’ away all ablaze and lookin’ 
splendid. Well, sir, we lived on that berg for a 
year, lackin’ just five days, and, barrin’ the cold, 
was as cheerful and comfortable as you please. 
We built a nice house, and had plenty to eat and 
nothing to do, the only duty being to keep a 


ms VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


99 


lookout from one of the high points where we 
rigged a signal-station, and kept the flags flyin’ 
all the time there was daylight and a big bonfire 
all night. We found a little polar bear cub, too, 
and brought her up as a pet; but her temper bein’ 
pretty cross-grained we had to be careful not to 
tease her, and the cap’n named her Maria Ann, 
which he said was the name of his wife’s mother, 
who was snappish like the bear and reminded 
him of her. At the end of six months the berg 
had melted about half away, and in nine was only 
about a quarter the size it had been when we 
boarded it, and all that time we hadn’t seen a 
single sail. 

“ One day, about noon, I was just goin’ up to the 
signal-staff, when I see the flag run up as had 
been fixed to signify sail in sight. ‘Sail ho!’ I 
sings out, and the men comes runnin’ out, sayin’, 
‘ Where ? where ?’ Up we all scrambles, and sure 
enough there was a sail cornin’ head on right for 
the berg on the opposite side from Racerville, as 
we called the camp. 

“ ‘ It’s a steamer under all sail,’ says the old 
man. 

“ She came on awful slow, and it was a good 
while before we could signal her; but at last she 
saw us, and runs up her awnsering pennant. 

“ ‘ Who are you ?’ says we. 

“ ‘ British steamship “ Haystack,” from Buenos 


lOO 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Ayres for Callao,’ says the steamer, and then runs 
up. ‘ Do you want to be taken off?’ 

“ ‘Well, rather,’ says we. ‘ Heave to, and we’ll 
come aboard.’ So she runs a little closer and 
heaves to. The old man and me and six men 
pulls off to her, and, when we got on deck, the 
old man says,— 

‘“Cap’ll Morgan, I believe?’ Havin’ found the 
other skipper’s name in an old register. 

“‘Yes,’ says the other old man. ‘What’s the 
matter with you,—wrecked ?’ For we looked as 
healthy and ship-shape as you please. 

“ ‘ Yes,’ says our old man ; ‘ I lost my ship, the 
“ British Racer,” a year ago next Monday by fire, 
and have been campin’ out ever since.’ 

“‘Well,’ says the other, ‘you’re cool about it, 
‘an’ no mistake.’ 

“ ‘ A year on a iceberg is calkerlated to make a 
feller coolish,’ says our old man, grinnin’. And 
then lookin’ round, says, ‘ Ain’t you steamin’ ?’ 

“‘No,’ says Cap’n Morgan; ‘I was blowed 
out of my way so far down off the Falklands 
that I used up all my coal, and have been tryin’ 
to get along under canvas ever since. But it’s 
dreadful slow, and I’m agoin’ to break up the wood¬ 
work and clap on steam again.’ 

Wot’s your cargo?’ says Cap’n Gordon. 

“ ‘ Meat,’ says Cap’n Morgan. ‘ Fresh meat 
in ice-chests ; but the ice’s ’most gone, and I was 



HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. iqi 

standin’ for the berg to get a new supply when I 
made out your signals. Fm afeared tho’ it’ll spile 
afore I can fix it up and make port.’ 

“ ‘ What’ll you give a ton for good coal ?’ says 
our old man, kinda smilin’. 

“ ‘ What T says Cap’n Morgan. 

“ ‘ I says what’ll you give for coal ?’ says ours. 

“ ‘ What d’you mean ?’ says Cap’n Morgan, 
lookin’ as tho’ he took our old man to be off his nut. 

“ ‘Why,’ says Cap’n Gordon, ‘ I’ve a coal-mine on 
this island of mine ; not much of a one, but I could 
let you have say seven hundred tons at a fair price ; 
and if you take it all I’ll let you have the ice free, 
throw it in as it were, and not say nothin’ about it.’ 

“At first Cap’n Morgan thought our old man 
gone cranky, but when he found out we really did 
have the coal, he says,— 

‘“Well, you let me have the coal, and I’ll take 
you and your crew to Callao for nothin’.’ 

“ ‘ Oh, no,’ says our old man; ‘we’re comfortable, 
and in no hurry to move. I’ll let you have the 
coal for five pounds per ton, fifty per cent, off for 
cash, delivered alongside the berg.’ 

“ ‘ Five pounds a ton !’ yells the steamer’s old 
man. ‘ Why, you must think I’m the Duke 
o’ Westminster. I’ll give you one.’ 

“‘Say two pounds ten,’ says our old man, ‘and 
I’ll throw in my mother-in-law, I mean a she polar 
bear, into the bargain.’ 


9 ' 


102 


yl LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


“ ‘ Polar bear be blanked!’ says Cap’n Morgan. 
‘ I ain’t commandin’ a zoological garden this v’yage.’ 

“ ‘Well,’ says our old man, ‘ one pound takes it; 
and you can bring the “ Haystack” up alongside 
safe enough, for the water’s deep snug on.’ 

“Well, we soon had the coal shifted again, and 
as I said, just five days less than the year we cast 
off and stood away for Callao, Maria Ann and 
all, only the two kittens bein’ missin’, they havin’ 
been eat by Maria about six months before. I 
shipped from Callao for Antwerp, and never 
heard of any of the crew again till just before we 
started away this time, when I read a piece in the 
New York Heralcl^ tellin’ about a seafarin’ party 
as was killed by his mother-in-law during a quar¬ 
rel about keepin’ a white bear chained in the old 
lady’s garden, and from what it said I come to the 
conclusion it must have been the ‘ Racer’s’ old 
man what was killed, and that the white bear 
must have been Maria Ann.” 

Mr. D- reels these yarns off in the most 

solemn manner, and I never express the slightest 
want of faith in them, although I can hardly believe 
that he actually thinks I take them to be true. 
Whenever the captain or mate is about, his lips 
are sealed and his fictions are hushed. In fact, I 
seem to be the only person, besides Chips, who 
he makes a confidant in, regarding his remarkable 
adventures. 



HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


103 


Table for week ending September 14. 


September 8.—Lat. 52° 28'' S. 

Lon. 83° 20' W. 

Heavy squalls all night. I lead-sea. 


Run—149 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 45°. 
Fog all dgy. 


September 9.—Lat. 51° 47'' S. 

Lon. 85° 49' W. 
Cold and rainy. Moderate gale. 


Run—147 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 40°. 
High sea. 


September 10.—Lat. 50° 25' S. 

Lon. 85° 28' W. 
Beautiful day. High sea. 

September ii.—Lat. 47° 34' S. 

Lon. 84° 04' \V. 

Beautiful day. Light airs and calms. 


Run—139 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 49°. 


Run—186 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 52°. 


September 12.—Lat. 46° 42' S. Run—68 miles. 

Lon. 83° 47' W. Temp, at noon, 52°. 

Weather fine. Scored our tenth thousand mile. 


September 13.—Lat. 44° 53° S. Run—176 miles. 

Lon. 87° 03'' W. Temp, at noon, 45°. 

Thick, colder and damp. 


September 14.—Lat. 43° 56' S. Run—121 miles. 

Lon. 88° 20' W. Temp, at noon, 46°. 

Damp and unpleasant. Wind dead ahead most all the week. 


104 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


ix:. 

At Sea, Sunday, September 14. 

A POOR week’s work and one not calculated to 
help the quick passage we have been counting on. 
Wind dead ahead and continuous tacking has 
been the bugbear all through the week and still 
continues. It is very aggravating after such a 
good run. 

Everything shows that we are approaching fine 
weather regions again, for which change I’ll not 
be sorry. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were 
model days; such days that could I pickle a few 
and get them home, I could dispose of them to 
invalids or picnic-parties at very high prices; but 
we’re still in rough regions, and are liable to have 
gales any time until we strike across thirty de¬ 
grees south. 

Saturday and to-day the weather changed for 
the worse again, and this evening looks threaten¬ 
ing and squally to the southwest, the direction 
rough weather generally comes from down here. 

September 8.—In the afternoon we saw a superb 
fog-bow to the southward; it lasted about fifteen 
minutes. The fog-horn was kept going all day, 
being performed on by one of the watch on deck, 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN 


105 

who paced the top-gallant forecastle while he 
sounded the warning. 

Septcjuber 9.—I caught a splendid albatross and 
also one of the half-breeds that were dying about 
us, by letting over a strong cod-line baited with 
pork fat. At least twenty small birds were hav¬ 
ing a battle over it, when several big ones came 
swooping down and scattered them away. In a 
second my prize had swallowed furiously. He 
was a beauty, with soft white throat, breast, and 
wings, which, when spread out on his body, meas¬ 
ured over eight feet across. I have them as tro¬ 
phies, also his skull and back. The half-breed 
had brown winors, and measured six feet across. 
These birds are great company for us; since the 
21 St of August we have been accompanied by 
more or less of them every day, rain or shine. 

There are several kinds. First, the Cape 
pigeons I spoke of before; these are very com¬ 
pactly built little fellows, and are the most numer¬ 
ous they are very tame, and superlatively greedy. 
'Vo feed they have to first settle in the water, and 
it is very amusing to throw over a bit of fat or 
bread and watch them fight over it. The instant 
one sees it, no matter how fast he is flying, he 
throws back his wings and half flies, half tumbles, 
into the water, then scrambles up and grabs it. 
Generally three or four see it at the same time, 
and it looks as if they had been shot to see them 


I 06 ^ LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 

come tumbling down, head over heels, in their 
haste to reach the coveted morsel. If it is too 
big a piece for one to fly away with or swallow 
whole, a regular raid is made on the one who has 
it, twenty or thirty getting around it, all scram¬ 
bling and pushing to get a bite. They never ut¬ 
ter a sound, except at these times, when they give 
weak little quacks like miniature ducks. They 
float on the water as lightly as a ball of cotton, 
and look very pretty. Then there are the regu¬ 
lar albatrosses, known by their white heads and 
pinkish beaks, and the half-breeds, like the one 
we caught. Also some birds called molly-mokes, 
about the size of a turkey. These are hideously 
ugly creatures that are a dirty-black color all 
over, and have white eyes ;‘they are not as tame 
as the other birds, and will not bite at our line. 

Sometimes there are a few gulls of various 
kinds, pure white, and gray, but they are scarce, 
as we are too far off shore to suit their taste. 
All these birds have the same graceful flight, 
sweeping swiftly over the waves, rising and fall¬ 
ing as the water rises and falls, and making long 
curves around the ship, often dozens flying in a 
body. They are always on the lookout for food, 
and will tackle anything at all; I often fool them 
by throwing over a few chips of wood. The larger 
birds cannot bring up as suddenly as the pigeons, 
but have to circle once or twice before settling 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 107 

down. The litde ones always find and get to the 
bits of pork first, and, if it be a large piece, are 
just getting interested in it when down come 
the big fellows, squawking at a great rate, and 
promptly take possession, swallowing at one gulp 
what the pigeons could not fly away with. I saw 
one bolt a piece that weighed over a pound. 
When the prize is light enough to carry, the 
pigeons grab it up and fly away with it to de¬ 
vour it undisturbed, and the big birds are too 
clumsy to catch them. The albatrosses are es¬ 
pecially strong of flight, and are said to have one 
more bone in their wings than any bird known. 
It is really marvellous to see them, as they sail as 
straight as a bullet right into the teeth of a roar- 
ing gale without a movement of their outstretched 
wings, and apparently without an effort of any 
sort. 

The legs of all these birds are very weak, and 
will not support them when on a hard surface. 
They use them to run along the tops of the waves 
for a yard or two when they start in their flight, 
but cannot rise from the deck of a vessel, so that 
once get one on board and he cannot escape; and 
an odd fact is that when brought on board they 
are always sea-sick, vomiting whatever they may 
have eaten, and naturally presenting a very ludi¬ 
crous appearance. They live on the various 
squids, etc., that are found on the surface of the 


jo 8 ^ LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 

water, and only follow the ships for the delica¬ 
cies of their bill of fare. Of all the things they 
like, “slush” is their favorite. It is the grease 
that is used in rubbing down the topmasts and 
top-gallant-masts, and for various other jobs on 
board ship. The slush-barrel is kept forward, 
and I waste about a quart every day feeding 
them. I am trying, by a daily supply of this, 
how far north I can lure them. 

Besides all these, we once in a while see, but 
oftener only hear, the penguins, those queer birds 
that cannot fly, but swim under water. Some¬ 
times they jump from the water just as a porpoise 
does. To-day I heard several, but could not catch 
a glimpse of any, as they are very shy. When I 
mentioned the other day that they ventured a 
long way from land, we were then one hundred 
miles off the coast; to-day we are six hundred. 

Septeinber lo.—In the evening there was a fine 
display of the Southern Lights, or Aurora Aus¬ 
tralis, a phenomenon which corresponds with the 
Aurora Borealis of northern latitudes. 

September ii.—The captain, Mr. X-, and 

I spent the afternoon shooting at the birds. 
Result,—seven rifle-shots, twenty-four revolver- 
shots, three horse-pistol shots,= one pigeon. The 
solitary victim to all this expenditure of powder 
and shot was hit by the captain with the horse- 
pistol. As the bird was only some eight feet 



HIS VO \AGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


109 


away, and the pistol was charged with an ounce 
of buckshot, he could hardly have missed. I fired 
the other two shots out of the pistol, and most of 
the revolver cartridges, but the ship tossed so you 
couldn’t get any aim. The pistol was a pre¬ 
historic relic, which kicked like a pair of mules. 

September 12.—To-day we scored our tenth 
thousand mile. 

September 14.—This evening, just before sun¬ 
set, we sighted a bark bound south, probably 
from the Guano Islands, off the coast of Peru. 
The voyage has now a different aspect to us all, 
and 1 must say I’m glad we are heading towards 
the north star. It gives the greatest satisfaction 
to know we are actually steering for port, and 
although still enthusiastic on the delights of the 
trip, I am glad it is more than half over; as if we 
are out very many days more. I’ll have to have 
every rag of clothes let out when I get to ’Frisco. 
I am getting fat, and am as tough as sole leather. 
I forgot to say before that we have a sailor who 

cuts hair quite nicely. Mr. X- and I have 

each passed through his hands once. 


10 



I lO 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week ending September 21. 

September 15.—Lat. 41° 45^ S. Run—159 miles. 

Lon. 87° 07'' W. Temp, at noon, 52°. 

Damp and unpleasant. Heavy squalls all clay. Sea running high. 
Thousands of birds 

September 16.—Lat. 38° 51'' S. Run—183 miles. 

Lon. 86° 43^^ W. Temp, at noon, 59°. 

Beautiful day. Stiff breeze. Sea very high. Much water coming on 
board. 


September 17.—Lat. 35° 34-' S. Run—203 miles. 

J_on. 86° 39' W. Temp, at noon, 58°. 

Weather fine. Light breezes. 


September 18.—Lat. 34° 24' S. 

Lon. 87° 44^ W. 


Run—88 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 58°. 


September 19.—Lat. 32° 46' S. 

Lon. 88° 38' W. 
Fine day. Calm all afternoon. 

September 20.—Lat. 31° 56' S. 

Lon. 88° 56' W. 

Light airs and calms. Weather fine. 


Run—108 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 61°. 


Run—54 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 64°. 


September 21.—Lat. 31° 00' S. Run—58 miles. 

Lon. 88° 45^ W. Temp, at noon, 69°. 

Light airs and calms. Beautiful sunset. Latter part of week in 
“ calms of Capricorn.” 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


I 11 


At Sea, Sunday, September 21. 

Last week we had to contend against adverse 
winds, and most of this week what is worse, no * 
winds at all, at least very little, and light at that. 
As I write, the ship is scarcely moving, the ocean 
is as smooth as a mill-pond, and the swell has so 
decreased as to be hardly perceptible. It is very 
discouraging after such a fine run to be thus stuck. 
Each day we paddle along in these calms of 
Capricorn counts against our looked for “ clipper” 
passage, and the captain’s face grows longer and 
longer as the calms continue, and he pictures the 
“Spinney” far to the westward bowling along, while 
we are idle; however, perhaps the “Spinney” is as 
badly off as we are. Monday and Tuesday the 
wind was fresh and fine, and we were just be¬ 
ginning to chuckle, when presto, change! and it 
was gone. All along there have been whiffs of 
air enough to make it pleasant and keep steerage¬ 
way on the ship; what little we have made has 
generally been at night, as during the daytime we 
have hardly averaged a mile an hour. After dark 
light breezes come fanning over the water, and 
we take every advantage possible to be had from 
them. I wish my friends at home could see the 


I I 2 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


sunsets in these calm regions of the ocean. At 
all times and in all places they have been beauti¬ 
ful, but nowhere so delicate in coloring as in these 
parts. The sun generally sets perfectly clear, a 
brilliant dazzling color, turning the western ocean 
a deep blood-red, and in parts a rich purple. But 
it is the after-glow that is so enchanting. Such 
a perfect blending of colors, such exquisitely deli¬ 
cate tinting, can nowhere else be seen. The light 
fleecy clouds fantastically grouped and scattered 
about in curious forms are painted by the dying^ 
sun in every conceivable shade, in some places in 
the most startling contrasts, while in others the 
colors blend as delicately as in a prism. 

Clouds tinted a rich turkey-red or gorgeous 
orange float along beside others as white as snow 
or deep black. The background of the sky ap¬ 
pears like a huge rainbow, and as it rises from 
the horizon assumes all the colors of that beauti¬ 
ful object, seemingly fused together, yet each tint 
distinctly visible, until overhead it deepens into a 
dark, clear blue, set with countless twinkling stars. 
Gradually all these colors fade away, until at last 
only a faint streak is left to show where the sun 
went down. Each evening the scene is changed, 
and I look forward with pleasure all day to the 
time when these splendid natural transformation 
scenes begin. 

This evening the western sky was the picture 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 

of a rocky coast, in which the entrance to a har¬ 
bor was visible, having on one side a fort,- and on 
the other a light-house. In the middle of this open¬ 
ing a small cloud gave the finishing-touch to the 
picture by slowly rising from the horizon, looking 
as if a ship was coming out between the headlands. 
The moonrises, too, are magnificent, and sometimes 
rival the sunsets in their wild and startling beauty. 

Monday we were accompanied by more birds 
than on any day at all, but since then they have 
gradually left us, and to-day only a dozen pigeons 
and two little “ Mother Carey’s Chickens,” which 
turned up yesterday, are in sight. These wee 
little creatures look very funny in comparison to 
the other birds, even the pigeons looking gigantic 
in contrast. 

September i6.—All the morning the ship was 
drenching herself with spray, which for an hour 
fell in showers as far aft as the mainmast, and 
one extra big splash completely wet a man on 
the main yard and passed over the stern. 

September 17.—Ran past the latitude of Robin¬ 
son Crusoe’s Island, and some three hundred and 
fifty miles to the westward of it. 

Septe 77 iber 18.—To-day we had three new spe¬ 
cies of birds in company, some largish brown fel¬ 
lows twice the size of the pigeons, and wonder¬ 
ful divers; also two kinds of gray, one of which 
I caught, and have his wings. Our two kittens 

h 10* 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


II4 

almost go crazy whenever I catch a bird, for it 
means fresh meat to them, and the way they im¬ 
prove the opportunity and tackle the carcass is a 
caution. 

September 19 and 20.—Shifted all the strong 
sails for the old ones used in light-weather re¬ 
gions. It makes a big job, as every sail on the 
ship has been changed twice except the mizzen- 
royal and spanker. 

September 21.—This morning at sunrise sighted 
a large English iron ship, bound south; are still 
in sight of her. She has been drifting about in 
all directions, not being able to steer as easily as 
we do. There is no more helpless sight than a 
big ship totally becalmed. During the week I 
have started to keep a chart of our daily run. It 
is on a very small scale, but will show our course 
and the distance made every day of the voyage. 

Last evening, during the first dog-watch, I was 
on the foretop-gallant yard, and, happening to 
look aft, saw a flying-fish attempt to pass across 
the ship, but come to grief by striking the main¬ 
sail. Mr. D-, who was on deck, off duty, 

picked it up, glanced around, and then walked 
aft and started up the mizzen rigging. I watched 
him curiously, and was astonished to see him pro¬ 
ceed all the way up to the royal yard, work his 
way out on it to windward, and carefully stick the 
dead fish into the extreme point of the yard, shov- 



HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 

ing its head, as I afterwards found by examination, 
into a large crack. He then descended to the 
deck. It was evident that I was to benefit by the 
performance, and as I did not want him to know 
I had witnessed his little game, I remained hidden 
behind the mast till he at last went into his room, 
when I hurried down and reached the after-cabin 
before he reappeared on deck. After waiting till 
I saw him come out I followed suit, and as soon 
as he spied me he spun me the following fib, 
which, to his great delight, I apparently swallowed 
whole: 

“You should have been here a minuit ago, 
Mr. Mac; there was a school of what we call 
sky-scrapers went across the ship, and it isn’t 
more’n once in a dozen voyages you’ll see ’em.” 

“What are sky-scrapers?” I asked, innocently. 

“ Why, they’re a kind of flying-fish that fly fifty 
times as high as the reg’lar sort, and don’t think 
nothin’ of doin’ two or three miles at a lick. I 
was lookin’ out to windward, when I saw ’em rise 
about a thousand yards off the bow, and just as 
they got to us the whole school was just over the 
mast-heads, or they’d have been killed by the 
hundred. They made a whirr like just so many 
birds, and I guess they must have gone a couple 
of miles to leeward afore they struck water, for I 
couldn’t distinguish no splash, tho’ I ran for the 
glass and clapped it onto ’em as quick as I could. 


Il5 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 

How many was there? Well, I should say four 
or five thousand, and it’s queer you didn’t notice 
the whirr they made.” Then looking up in a 
natural way, he suddenly exclaimed, “ Well, blank 
my eyes if one feller didn’t run afoul of us, and 
there the beggar is, a-stickin’ head on into the 
mizzen-royal yard, dead to windwardsee him ? 
Here, Mike (to a sailor who was coiling down 
some halliards), skip aloft there to the weather 
end of the mizzen-royal, and fetch me that sky¬ 
scraper wot’s stickin’ there. Look lively, now.” 
And the astonished tar after sighting the fish pro¬ 
ceeded aloft, coming down again with a grin, which 
showed that he saw the officer’s racket as well as 
I did. 

“You see,” said the second mate, as the sailor 
handed him the fish, “ these sky-scrapers looks 
like the common kind, and it’s not till you get to 
know ’em that you can tell ’em apart, and as 
they’re not fit to eat like the reg’lar sort. I’ll 
chuck this feller overboard.” And so saying, 
overboard it went. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


117 


Table for week ending September 28. 


September 22.—Lat. 30° 18' S. 

Lon. 88° 40' W. 

Run—43 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 71°. 

Weather fine. Calms and light airs. 


September 23.—Lat. 29° 30'' S. 

Lon. 88° 32' W. 

Run—53 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 65°. 

Light showers during forenoon. Squalls all round the horizon. 

September 24.—Lat. 27° 30^ S. 

Lon. 80° 20' W. 

Run—132 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 68°. 

Superfine day. 


September 25.—Lat. 26° 22' S. 

Lon. 90° 30'' W. 

Run—106 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 70°. 

Beautiful day. Got S. E. trade winds at 

2 P.M. 

September 26.—Lat. 24° 43'' S. 

Lon. 91° 46' W. 

Run—124 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 70°. 

Weather fine. 


September 27.—Lat. 22° 38' S. 

Lon. 93° 29' W. 

Run—156 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 71°. 

Weather fine. 


September 28.—Lat. 20° 58'' S. 

Lon. 95° 24' W. 

Run—156 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 73°. 


Slightly overcast. Water-spout. Light airs. Moonlight all the week. 


ii8 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week endmg October 5. 


September 29.—Lat. 20° 07' S. Run—83 miles. 

Lon. 96° 20^ W. Temp, at noon, 75°. 

Overcast and squally. 


September 30.—Lat. 18° 37^ S. Run—116 miles. 

Lon. 97° 35' W. Temp, at noon, 73°. 

Fine day. Full moon. Beautiful evening. Not a cloud visible. 


October i.—Lat. 18° 20' S. 

Lon. 98° 49' W. 
Beautiful day. Light airs. 


Run—109 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 73°. 


October 2.—Lat. 17° 34' S. Run—86 miles, 

Lon. 90° 00' W. Temp, at noon, 73°. 

Weather fine. Light airs, and calms all day. Dead calm all night. 
Bright moon and cloudless sky. 

October 3,—Lat. 17° 18' S. Run—21 miles. 

Lon. 99° 01^ W. Temp, at noon, 76°. 

Dead calm till 11 A.M., then very light airs. Heavy rain-squall and 
fresh breeze at 2 p.m. 


October 4.—Lat. 15° 20' S. 

Lon. 99° 38'' W. 
Rain-squalls all day. 

October 5.—Lat. 12° 56' S. 

Lon. 101° 30' W. 
Very fine day. 


Run—115 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 74°. 


Run—180 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 75°. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


II9 


x:i. 

At Sea, Sunday, October 5. 

Two most discouraging weeks have elapsed 
since I made my last entry, and which I greatly 
fear will prevent our passage getting down into 
the teens, as we had confidently hoped. With an 
ordinary chance we would have to-day been up 
to the equator, but the siege of calms and light, 
baffling winds we have undergone has retarded 
us wofully, and from one hundred and twenty to 
one hundred and twenty-five days will most likely 
be our run, with a strong probability in favor of 
the latter figure being most correct. The daily 
runs marked down in the table must not be taken 
as our real progress, as often they are beyond it. 
They include all the tacks we make, and thus I 
often put down fifty or sixty miles more than we 
really proceed towards San Francisco. 

The following are the incidents I have noted 
down for the last two weeks: 

September 22.—During the morning one of the 
sailors reported a boat drifting about to the east¬ 
ward, and for a time there was quite a sensation 
on board; but at last the -object turned out to be 
a number of large brown birds sitting on the 
water, and evidently feeding on something. Saw 
a great many nautiluses. 


I 20 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


September 23.—School of about a dozen right- 
whales passed within quarter of a mile during 
the forenoon. This species blow a high straight 
stream, instead of the short puffs given by the 
sperm-whales that we saw off Pernambuco, Brazil. 

September 25.—Second mate and one of the 
sailors indulge in a short row; one round fought, 
resulting in victory for the second mate. 

September 26.—Slid down the fore-royal-stay. 

September 28.—Saw a water-spout form to the 
northeast. It began by slowly descending in the 
shape of an inverted cone, the end swaying from 
side to side until near the surface, when a body 
of water leaped up and joined it, and the whole 
thing drifted off to the northeast. The phenom¬ 
enon occurred during a calm and at sunset. Fly¬ 
ing-fish about again. 

October 3.—Spent the afternoon shooting at 
bottles towing astern. Saw a barkentine bound 
south from California. 

October 5.—Flying-fish for breakfast. They are 
very numerous, and can be caught at night by 
hanging a fine net in the bowsprit rigging with a 
lantern in it, which attracts the fish, and they fly 
for it, and thus become entangled in the net. 
Many thus caught are too small to cook. Sev¬ 
eral “boson” birds about. These birds are the 
size of a chicken, and are pure white with scarlet 
beaks. In flying they have a very labored move- 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


I2I 


ment, seeming as though they were completely 
tired out; at night they often perch on the ends-of 
the yard-arms. They fly about as high as the tip 
of the mast-heads, and never seem to go down to 
the surface to feed. As they fly they utter the 
most dismal noise I ever heard a bird let loose. 
It sounds like a batch of weak puppies learning 
to bark. The name “ boson” is an abbreviation 
of the word boatswain, and they are so called be¬ 
cause they have a long, straight feather the shape 
of a marline-spike sticking out behind their tails. 
On shipboard the boatswain is the man who has 
charge of the small gear, such as marline-spikes, 
spun-yarn, etc. ; hence the bird’s name. I have 
not seen any since Monday afternoon, when we 
attempted to shoot one and frightened them all 
away. 

After passing thirty degrees south we began to 
expect the southeast trade winds, which generally 
blow with great regularity from about that point up 
to two or three degrees north of the equator. Once 
in these, a captain need not trouble himself much, 
for they blow steadily, and with very little variation 
all the year round, and it is all fair sailing for days 
and weeks without change. At 2 p.m. on the 26th 
of September, in twenty-six degrees south, we ran 
into them, and thought we were fixed at last for a 
fine run to the northward, but after a day or so of 
fair to middling breezes the wind failed us, and we 

F II 


122 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


have been progressing through the very heart of 
the trade-wind region (when we should have been 
reeling off over two hundred miles a day), with a 
wretched chance up to yesterday afternoon, when 
they began to blow in earnest, and as I write the 
ship is again boiling along at a ten-knot rate, 
splashing the lower deck with spray, and seeming 
to enjoy the change as much as any of the officers 
or men. The captain, whose disappointment at 
being set back so is very great, is commencing to 
smile again, and in fact all hands from the boy up 
feel brighter, for there is nothing that grows so 
tiresome as a long drawn out spell of calms or 
baffling winds. 

I will here note a few changes that have taken 
place in my manner of passing time. I read a 
great deal more than I did at first, and have pol¬ 
ished off the entire series of the late Mr. Shak- 
speare’s writings, as well as several of Marryat’s, 
Cooper’s, and Lever’s novels, and a miscellaneous 
assortment of history, travels, and science. Hav¬ 
ing pretty well learned the ship from the end of 
the jib-boom to the end of the spanker-boom, and 
from main truck to keelson, I have stopped asking 
questions and studying the rigging as for the first 
two months at sea. Neither do I do as much 
climbing as formerly, the novelty having worn off, 
but when I do start aloft, I never stop short of the 
royal yards, the highest possible perch. I remem- 


HIS VOYAGE AKOUHD CAPE HORN. 


123 


ber the first time I went aloft, I trembled so that 1 
was afraid I should fall, but now the main royal 
yard feels as comfortable as the deck. Several 
times I have climbed from the deck to the mast¬ 
head without touching the regular ladders, and on 
the 26th of September incurred the displeasure of 
the captain for the first time, by sliding down the 
fore-royal-stay in a moment of thoughtless bravado. 

The fore-royal-stay is the rope extending from 
the point of the bowsprit to the peak of the fore¬ 
mast, and after I had started on my dangerous 
journey I would have given worlds to have been 
back on the royal yard, but it was go ahead or 
nothing, and so I at last reached the point of the 
jib-boom with well-torn clothes and nerves pretty 
well unstrung. As I said before, I read more than 
at first, and generally give the whole afternoon 

to it, and often the evenings too. Mr. X-’s 

nightly performances on the mouth-organ are,how¬ 
ever, rather discouraging to any one’s attempt to 
get interested in a book. He still continues to wade 
through his tremendous supply of “New York 
Weeklies,” and takes his afternoon nap with clock¬ 
like regularity. Although now three months out, 
he is still in dense ignorance of anything about the 
ship’s rigging, in regard to either its name or use, 
and I have no doubt he will continue in his indif¬ 
ference to the end of the voyage. In some mat¬ 
ters he is painfully green, and the second mate 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


I 24 

taking advantage of the fact, “ stuffs” him fear¬ 
fully, much to the delight of the mate, who is also 
beginning to practise on his credulity. The other 

day when we were shooting, Mr. X-attempted 

to load a shot-gun, and just as he was about to 
take aim at a pigeon, the captain asked him how 
much powder he had in the gun, as it was an old 
one, and should not be loaded too heavily. This 

led to an explanation on Mr. X-’s part, of the 

ludicrous fact that he had put the powder and shot 
in together, and then rammed them down without 
any wad. He then said it had been some time 
since he had been gunning ! 

For the past two weeks the ship has been un¬ 
dergoing her regular annual overhauling, and 
although not yet finished is already vastly changed, 
and in a short time she will look like a new ship. 
Every mast, spar, and boom has been carefully 
scraped, sand-papered, and oiled, and as most of 
the sticks are of Oregon pine, a beautifully marked 
and colored timber, the effect aloft is very hand¬ 
some. The masts proper (i.e., the first or princi¬ 
pal sticks) are scraped with regular cabinet- 
scrapers as carefully as possible, and then sand¬ 
papered, and given several coats of oil, after which 
they are as smooth as satin. They are in one 
piece, instead as is generally the case in large 
ships being made of several separate pieces, in 
which case they are called made masts. When 




HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 125 

thus scraped and oiled they are as delicately 
colored as a meerschaum pipe, and are truly 
beautiful bits of timber. As a finishing touch, 
they will be given a coat of varnish before going 
into port. 

The oil that is used on the yards is mixed with 
rosin, which gives them a shining look when the 
sun is out. All the rigging has been straightened 
up and freshly tarred, and is as black and glisten¬ 
ing as jet. The deck has been holystoned and 
oiled, and now the paint-work all over the vessel 
is undergoing a hard scrubbing, preparatory to 
being repainted, which step, with a little extra 
polishing on the brass-work, will complete the 
transformation of the old ship into a new one, as 
far as appearances are concerned. All the ships 
going into San Francisco go through just this pro¬ 
gramme, so that at that city you see them at their 
best, and nowhere, according to the captain, are 
the efforts of the captains in getting their ships 
into first-class trim more appreciated. In our 
case, no more care could be taken in the manner 
the work is done if it was a gentleman’s drawing¬ 
room that was being overhauled. 


II* 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


I 26 


Table for week ending October 12 . 


October 6.—Lat. 10° 55' S. Run—160 miles. 

Lon. 103° 40^ W. Temp, at noon, 76°. 

Very fine day. “ Ilosons” numerous. 


October 7.—Lat. 8° 52' S. Run—199 miles. 

Lon. 106° 21^ W. Temp, at noon, 76°. 

Weather beautiful. 


October 8.—Lat. 6° 18' S. 

Lon. 109° 04'' W. 

Day fine. Very hot in sun. Heavy dew. 


Run—211 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 78°. 


October 9.—Lat. 4° 03' S. Run—182 miles. 

Lon. 111° 04'' W. Temp, at noon, 78 °. 

Fine day. Very heavy dew after sunset. 


October 10.—Lat. 2° 05^ S. Run—157 miles. 

Lon. 113° 02^ W. Temp, at noon, 76°. 

Fine day. Dew still very heavy at night. 


October ii.—Lat. 0° 26^ S. Run—122 miles. 

Lon, 114° 20^ W. Temp, at noon, 75°. 

Beautiful day. Crossed the equator at 4.30 P.M. Very light breezes. 


October 12.—Lat. 0° 52' N. - Run—97 miles. 

Lon, 115° 26' W. Temp, at noon, 73°. 

Overcast. Light airs. Saw north star again. 


The ship crossed the line yesterday afternoon. Just ninety-five days 
from Cape May, on longitude 114° 40^ W., after sailing thirteen thousand 
five hundred and ninety miles, a daily average of a trifle over one hun¬ 
dred and forty-three miles, or about six knots an hour. The run from 
50° S. occupied thirty-one days, which is behind the average by several 
days. This was caused by an unexpected amount of calms, and the very 
weak character of the southeast tracle winds. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


I 27 


XIZI. 

At Sea, Sunday, October 12. 

Over the equator at last, and the fifth, or con¬ 
cluding, stage of the voyage begun. There is 
something very satisfactory in crossing this im¬ 
aginary line, and in knowing that the voyage is 
actually drawing to a close. Not that I’m in any 
particular hurry to get ashore, or tired of the life 
at sea; but then you can get too much of even a 
good thing, and after more than a month longer 
of this lazy humdrum life I feel certain I should 

begin to fret. Mr. X-has been growling on 

the subject for a week back. 

I will have quite enough to keep me just pleas¬ 
antly busy during the next four weeks in finishing 
up my journal, letters, and charts. By that time 
we hope to be safely made fast to a San Francisco 
wharf. This week I have to record a most painful 
and tragic event, the first accident of the voyage. 
1 allude to the drowning, on Tuesday, October 7, 
of one of the sailors, a man much liked on board, 
and who, poor fellow, was taking his last voyage 
before settling down with his family and friends in 
one of the Western States; it has indeed proved 
to be his last, but in a way he little expected. He 
was a man I mentioned as being quite a good 



128 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 

barber; he probably did his last job in that line 
when he cut my hair two weeks ago to-day. While 
doing so he told me that he had been at sea sev¬ 
eral years, but was as poor as when he started, 
and that on reaching ’Frisco he intended leaving 
the sea to go and work on the farm of a relative 
in Wisconsin. 

October 7.—This has been a most eventful day, 
and one that will remain impressed on my mem¬ 
ory for a long time. When the captain went on 
deck about six o’clock he caught one of the 
sailors—a Swede called “ Charley,” who is as 
surly a looking fellow as one could imagine— 
pouring turpentine over the little tomcat, much 
to the disgust of the poor beast, which was moan¬ 
ing pitifully. The captain came very near strik¬ 
ing the man, so incensed was he; but there being 
several other sailors in sight he didn’t care to 
make an exhibition, so merely ordered the man 
to wash pussy in soap and water, and to do 
double duty all day,—that is, not to turn in when 
his watch did, but work with both watches. At 
breakfast we were discussing the rascally act, and 
the mate quietly made up his mind to give Mr. 
Charley a licking; so after breakfast he went for¬ 
ward, called the culprit into the carpenter-shop, 
and there proceeded to give him a thorough good 
thrashing, during which the man bellowed like 
a two-horse-power calf. The funny side of the 


HIS VOYAGE AROLWD CAPE HORN. 


1 29 

incident was that a poor Dutchman called Hans, 
who has about as much sense as a piece of putty, 
on hearing Charlie’s yells came running aft, think¬ 
ing that some one had fallen from aloft, and the 
second mate, supposing he was going to pitch into 
the mate, let poor innocent Hans have a rap on 
the jaw that rather surprised him, and without 
waiting to see what the matter was, “ Dutchy” 
scuttled back into the fo’castle as fast as he could. 

At a quarter-past ten o’clock, as I was sitting 
in the captain’s cabin writing, I heard shouting on 
the deck, and at first Supposed the fight was being 
renewed. Running out, I saw the entire crew 
leaning over the weather-rail, shouting and ges¬ 
ticulating, and I of course knew that some one was 
overboard. As I reached the side the man swept 
past, holding on to a rope. The ship was running 
very fast and the sea was quite rough, so that the 
strain on the man’s strength must have been ter- 
rible. The captain instantly ordered the helm 
“ hard down,” as the man was to windward, and 
“ Chips” and I helped the helmsman to roll the 
wheel down. By the time the ship came up into 
the wind, which she did very quickly, the poor 
fellow’s strength was exhausted, and from the 
starboard quarter he could be seen some ten feet 
under water towing feet foremost, the rope hav¬ 
ing become tangled about his legs before he 
could get loose from it. For some time it was 


i:.o 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


impossible to get hold of the line he was attached 
to, as it ran from out on the jib-boom down under 
the vessel and was fouled there, so that for at 
least five minutes after the ship was stopped the 
body hung suspended in the water. At last, alter 
several violent efforts, the line was shaken loose of 
the keel and the body slowly and carefully hauled 
alongside, just forward of the main shrouds. The 
line had by this time slipped down, and was only 
tangled about one foot. Taking with him a rope’s 
end made into a noose, one of the sailors lowered 
himself over the side and made it fast to the body, 
which was then gently hoisted to the rail and laid 
on the deck. For nearly three hours the captain 
and men worked to restore the poor fellow to 
life, adopting the methods given in the book is¬ 
sued by the United States Life-Saving Station, 
but without success. The dreadful wrenching the 
body had undergone while towing under the 
quarter had extinguished every spark of life, 
even if the water had not. The body was rubbed 
and chafed to give it warmth, various movements 
calculated to start respiration were kept up the 
whole time ; hartshorn was applied to the nos¬ 
trils, and hot-water bottles under the armpits and 
to the feet. At half-past one, not the slightest 
signs of returning life being noticed, the attempt 
was given up and the body was taken forward 
under the top-gallant fo’castle. It seems that the 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 131 

man had been painting one of the forward stays, 
and having finished the job was coming in over 
the jib-boom, with the line to which he was sus¬ 
pended still fastened around his waist. This line 
ran from the deck up over the fore-royal yard and 
down the stay to where the man was working, 
being there attached to a kind of sling called a 
“ boatswain’s chair,” in which the man sat while 
at work. 

As he painted the stay he called out when he 
wished to be lowered farther down, and another 
sailor on deck eased off some more line, makinof 
fast again when the painter gave the signal. The 
deck end of the line ran out of a coil of rope, 
and, when the painting was finished, the fastening 
was taken off, so that it would run out freely as 
the man came in from the end of the jib-boom. 
When about half-way in, he slipped and fell over¬ 
board, and the line running freely from the coil 
on deck (which was a very long one), he would 
have been enabled to drift along astern, and dis¬ 
entangle himself from the “ boson’s chair,” had 
not a sailor on deck very naturally stopped the 
running line, and commenced hauling in on it. 
When all the slack already loose had run out, 
and before the poor fellow had got loose from the 
“ chair,” he was suddenly brought up with a very 
violent jerk, and probably lost consciousness at 
that moment. Had he managed to get free be- 


132 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


fore being thus wrenched, he would in all prob¬ 
ability have been saved, for he could swim, and the 
life-buoys were in readiness to be thrown to him 
as he came astern. The sea was also in a per¬ 
fectly safe condition to launch a boat. 

During the afternoon the body was dressed and 
wrapped up in two old blankets that were found 
in his chest. Over these his hammock was se¬ 
curely sewed, a large bagful of iron being fast¬ 
ened inside at his feet, and the whole thing tightly 
bound around with tarred rope-yarn. At five 
o’clock all hands were called to the main deck, the 
main yard was backed, bringing the ship to a 
stand-still, and the body, covered with an Amer¬ 
ican ensign, laid out on a large plank, which was 
placed on the main hatch. All hands standing 
uncovered, the captain read a chapter from the 
Bible appropriate to the occasion, and part of 
the burial service for funerals at sea, and then 
at a signal the flag was taken off, the body was 
slowly carried to the port side and launched over¬ 
board from the plank, just opposite to where it had 
been hauled on board in the morning. A minute 
later the yard was swung around, the sails began 
to fill away, and soon we were again ploughing 
along, the beautiful afternoon and bright appear¬ 
ance on the ship seeming in ill keeping with the 
solemn ceremony that had just been performed. 

According to the ship’s articles, the man’s name 


JUS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN 


133 


was George Holgerson, a native of Denmark; on 
board he was called “Frank.” He was in the 
mate’s watch, and was a favorite with the other 
sailors, who seemed very sorry at his death. 

Since the “ Pactoliis” was launched, fifteen years 
ago, this is but the second man ever lost out of 
her, the first being a steward, who fell overboard 
in a gale of wind off Staten Land, the place we 
passed September i. That happened some ten 
years ago. 

October 9.—Flying-fish around in countless 
thousands. 

October 10.—The huge schools of tlying-fish 
continue to remain in company, and I never tire 
watching their sharp flights through the air. 

October 11.—Crossed the equator bound north. 
Schools of bonitas under the bows all the fore¬ 
noon. These fish are about as big as a large 
shad, and are exceedingly pretty. They are 
brightly colored, the tints being blue and pink, 
but not so brilliant as the dolphins. While sit¬ 
ting on the upper foretop-sail yard during the 
afternoon, I saw a sperm-whale blow once or 
twice, and then fluke or dive. This was Mr. 

X-’s birthday, and the captain burned some 

blue-lights in the evening in honor of the occa¬ 
sion, making a very pretty effect. 

October 12.—This afternoon saw two large tur¬ 
tles lying on the surface of the water fast asleep. 

12 



134 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


They are numerous about here, being carried out 
by the current from the Galapagos Islands, a group 
that belongs to Equador, and lies on the equator 
in longitude 8o° west. These islands are cele¬ 
brated for the vast numbers of turtles found 
there. In fact, I believe the name means the 
Tortoise Archipelago. If it had been calm we 
should have got a boat over and caught one, for 
they are very tame; but while we have the slight¬ 
est breeze the captain won’t hear of stopping. 
This is a great pity, for they were splendid big 
fellows, and would have made an alderman’s 
mouth water. Also saw a school of albacores, 
a large fish something like a porpoise, only much 
quicker in their movements ; they go along like 
an express-train, jumping far out of water every 
little while. As I am finishing this the mate calls 
down that the north star is in sight. We are a 
week behind the time I gave for seeing it again, 
when we crossed the equator bound south. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


OD 


Table for week ending October 19, 


October 13.—Lat. 2° 43' N. 

Lon. 117° 03^ W. 

Fine ciny. 


Run—128 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 76°. 


October 14.—Lat. 4° 49' N. Run—132 miles. 

Lon. 118° 12' W. Temp at noon, 78°. 

Fine clay. Hot in sun. Very light breezes. 


October 15.—Lat. 6° 08' N. Run—97 miles. 

Lon. 118° 23' W. Temp, at noon, 80°. 

Lost S. E. trades in 6° 15' N., and got into the doldrums 1 Hot! 

October 16.—Lat. 7° 2^ N. Run—92 miles. 

Lon. 118° 40' W. Temp, at noon, 84°. 

Dead calm. Rain at intervals. Very hot. Ship becalmed in trough 
of sea all night, rolling badly. One hundredth day at sea. 


October 17.—Lat. 7° 34' N. Run—6 miles. 

Lon. 118° 30' \V. Temp, at noon, 82°. 

Calm. Hot. Very hard rain-scpialls towards evening. Dolphins about 
in large numbers. 

October 18.— Lat. 8° 14' N. Run—48 miles. 

Lon. 118° 39' W. Temp, at noon, 84°. 

Calm all day. Very hot. Porpoises about; also sharks ; caught one. 
Torrents of rain in the afternoon, and all night. Several stiff squalls, and 
sharp lightning during the night (no thunder). Sea very rough and ugly. 

October 19.—Lat. 9° 2 \' N. Run—80 miles. 

Lon. 118° 40' \V. Temp, at noon, 82°. 

Overcast, with much rain. Sea running high. Very squally towards 
evening. “ Dirty” night. 

Doldrums! doldrums!! doldrums 1 !! and the passage hopelessly spoiled. 
The ocean currents are very strong down heie ; for instance, on the 13th 
we had a lift of eighty-four miles to the westward by the current alone. 1 
have enjoyed the rains very much, skipping about the decks in a bathing- 
suit. 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


1'36 


2 ^ 111 - 

At Sea, October 19. 

We have certainly had very poor luck this side 
of “ the Cape,” and the past week has been about 
the worst of the voyage. Several times during 
the week the ship lost steerage-way, and help¬ 
lessly rolled about in the trough of the sea. 

October 13.—Saw a man-of-war hawk, a large 
bird looking like an eagle, and having the same 
flight. 

October 15.—My twenty-first birthday. 

October 16.—One hundredth day out. Saw five 
turtles, and a ship bound south from San Fran¬ 
cisco. She was too far away to go to her, or we 
would have lowered a boat and gone after some 
newspapers. 

October 17.—Made six miles by sailing, and 
drifted ten more. Two turtles and many dol¬ 
phins. The latter would not bite to-day. Have 
got the harpoon ready, should a turtle float within 
range. 

October 18.—Porpoises about all day. They 
are so lazy that they only float about, instead of 
playing and jumping in their usual way. Several 
very ugly sharks astern. Caught one on our big 
hook, which is a foot long. He was the smallest 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


137 

of the lot, and also the greediest. Measured seven 
feet nine inches. Had a steak for tea. It tasted 
like a quinine pill. Very disagreeable night. 

Mr. B-showed me his tattooing the other 

day. He is a regular walking art-gallery. The 
designs on his arms are very elaborate,—full- 
rigged ships, arms of all nations, flags, initials, etc. 

On my birthday we had two small bottles of 
“ Roederer” for dinner, to drink to the health of 
those at home, who would, I was quite sure, be 
doing the same in honor of the event, and in the 
evening launched a flaming tar-barrel overboard. 
The effect was very good as it rose and fell on 
the waves. During the rains of the week we 
have filled every spare barrel and cask on board. 

Since writing the above, the man sent aloft just 
before sunset reported a vessel over the starboard 
bow. On going aloft with a glass I found her to 
be a full-rigged ship with main skysail yard. A 
moment later saw another, same size and rig, in 
the same direction. They are now ten miles 
ahead. We feel sure one Is our old friend and 
rival, the “ Spinney.” The night is very dirty- 
looklng, with rough cross-sea and squalls. 


12* 



138 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week ending October 26. 

October 20.—Lat. 10° 17' N. Run—93 miles. 

Lon, 119° 03^ W, Temp, at noon, 82°. 

Weather very fine. Moderate “trades,” 


October 21,—Lat. 11° 26' N. 

Lon. 120° 30' W. 
Beautiful day. Heavy head-sea. 


Run—118 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 83°. 


October 22.—Lat. 13^ 16' N. Run—134 miles. 

Lon. 121° 56^ W, Temp, at noon, 82°. 

Beautiful day. Flying-fish very numerous. 


October 23 —Lat. 15° 29' N. 

Lon. 123° 19' W. 


Weather fine. Fresh “ trades.” 


Run—167 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 82°. 


October 24.—Lat. 18° 39' N. Run—219 miles. 

Lon. 125° 10^ W. Temp, at noon, 77°. 

Overcast and damp. Very fresh trades. Head-sea from N. W. build¬ 
ing up all day. Very rough all night. Much water coming over the rail. 


October 25.—Lat. 21° 28'' N. Run—224 miles. 

Lon. 127° 35'' W. Temp, at noon, 71°. 

Overcast and damp. Breeze fresh and strong. Sea rough all day. 
Towards evening and all night much increased, and ship pitching directly 
into it. At 7 P.M. split main top-gallant-sail in a squall, 

October 26.—T.at. 23° 39^ N. Run—182 miles. 

Lon. 129° 38' W, Temp, at noon, 70°. 

Overcast and gloomy. Sea more moderate. Very damp all day. The 
early part of the past week was extra fine,—-the evenings being moonlight 
and the sea smooth. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday a great change for 
the worse. Sailed this week eleven hundred and thirty seven miles. 
Daily average one hundred and sixty-one and three-sevenths miles. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


139 


At Sea, Sunday, October 26. 

Eleven hundred and diirty-seven miles of briny 
deep left astern since noon of last Sunday, and 
at that hour to-day the fort at the entrance to San 
Francisco harbor bears N. 31° E. eight hundred 
and forty miles. To make those eight hundred 
and forty miles will, however, be a slow job, and 
we are likely to sail twice that far before the coast 
of California looms up and shows us that the 
passage is ended. It is well that the voyage is 
nearly over, for I would have to begin wearing 
my better clothes very soon, the old ones are lit¬ 
erally in rags. Sculling about aloft is very hard 
on clothes, and wears them out almost as fast as 
you can mend them. My mending is very artistic 
and quite picturesque, but would hardly pass cur¬ 
rent on shore. I have one pair of trowsers of a 
brown color that are patched with white canvas, 
and a gray pair with a dark-blue seat and a strip 
of red about the left knee. I have also had to 
sew on lots of buttons, and though the work is not 
very beautifully done. I’ll warrant the buttons won’t 
drop off in a hurry. The steward would do this 
for me if I wanted him to, but I do it to help pass 
away the time. 

October 20.—The two ships that so suddenly 


40 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


appeared yesterday afternoon were nowhere to 
be seen to-day, nor have we sighted them since. 

October 2 \,—I spent the entire forenoon on the 
main royal yard, from which perch you can see 
about thirty miles each way, or an entire degree,— 
I mean, of course, when the weather is perfectly 
clear,—and while there discovered a large English 
iron ship, bound south. She passed about fifteen 
miles to the westward of us. Also saw a really 
monstrous hammer-head shark. The rascal nearly 
chewed our patent log out of shape. 

October 22.—The flying-fish were about all day 
in vast numbers, but were very small ones. They 
rise on each side of and in front of the ship, and 
fly about one hundred and fifty feet before diving 
down. It looks as though a discharge of grape- 
shot from a man-of-war had been fired. I hap¬ 
pened to remark to the second mate that the fish 
were very numerous, when he gravely informed 
me, backing up the assertion with a choice sea 
oath, that on one occasion he had seen the flying- 
fish so thick that he had put on a pair of snow- 
shoes and walked a mile and a half from the ship 
on their backs, and that the fish suddenly disap¬ 
pearing he came mighty near being drowned be¬ 
fore he got back. Also saw several large gulls, 
and a big bird called a booby roosted all night on 
one of the upper yards. Made out a ship bound 
north, twenty-five miles to the westward. Only 


ms VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 

could make out her royals and top-gallant-sails; 
saw her for about two hours ; it then grew hazy 
and we lost her. 

October 25.—To-night reminds me of that on 
which we came into the Pacific,—the wind being 
the same, and also the sea and clouds scudding 
over the moon. At seven o’clock on this evening 
our main top-gallant-sail split into ribbons during 
a squall. 

October 26.—To-day we ran into the latitude of 
the United States. Our time is about three and 
a half hours behind that in Philadelphia. There 
is a large ugly bird flying about called a gonez; 
they are very numerous a little farther north. 
The Cape pigeons, greedy as they are, do not 
begin to be as piggish as these fellows and are no 
tamer. Saw a large log and a stump floating in 
the sea. These somewhat dangerous obstacles 
float down from the lumber ports of California 
and Oregon. Dolphins about the bows all the 
morning. 


142 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week ending November 2. 


October 27.—Lat. 24° N. Run—108 miles. 

Lon. 131° 02' W. Temp, at noon, 69°. 

Damp and gloomy. Light airs. High northerly swell. 

October 28.—Lat. 25° 23^ N. Run—46 miles. 

Lon. 131° 25' W. Temp, at noon, 70°. 

Fine day. Exquisite moonlight night. Dead calm all day and most all 
night, 

October 29.—Lat. 25° 33^ N. Run—16 miles. 

Lon. 131° 28' W. Temp, at noon, 69°. 

Pleasant. Full moon. Dead calm all A.M. Light airs after i P.M. 


October 30.—Lat. 26° 08' N. 

Lon. 130° 22' W. 

Pleasant. Very light breeze all day. 


Run—77 miles. 
Temp, at noon, 68°. 


October 31.—Lat. 26° 40' N. Run—35 miles. 

Lon. 130° 34' W. Temp, at noon, 69°. 

Very hazy all day. Dead calm, and no steerage-way until about 9 P.M. 
Heavy dew. Light breeze all night, 


November i,—Lat. 27° 13' N. Run—32 miles. 

Lon. 130° 2 \' W. Temp, at noon, 72°. 

Fine. Begins with dead calm. Light breeze at 2 p.m., gradually fresh¬ 
ening to moderate. 


November 2.—Lat. 29° 06' N. Run—116 miles. 

Lon. 130° 02'' W. Temp, at noon, 70°. 

Fine. Breeze steady all day, but failed in evening. Heavy westerly 
swell. Ship rolling badly all afternoon and night. Sailed by log four 
hundred and thirty miles, a daily average of only sixty-one and three- 
sevenths miles. Hard luck. Farallones Rocks twenty-five miles from San 
Francisco. Bore six hundred and seventeen miles off at noon to-day. A 
three days’ run if we had the breeze. The moonlight was very beautiful 
this week, the moon being full on Wednesday. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN, 


143 


X-V". 

At Sea, Sunday, November 2. 

Surely there is some truth in that celebrated 
rhyme “The Ancient Mariner,” and we should 
have taken heed from it and not caught the alba¬ 
tross, in the South Pacific. It is, I fear, in punish¬ 
ment for that slaughter we are now suffering this 
tremendous amount of calms. The week just 
passed should have been all breezes, according to 
the charts ; but, although the ship did her best, we 
only had wind enough to paddle along at the rate 
of sixty-one miles a day. 

I suppose this will be our last Sunday at sea. 
’Frisco is to-day only a little over six hundred 
miles off, and surely we’ll scramble along over 
that in a week; for the farther north we proceed 
the stronger will we find the wind. There is 
nothing more to be done to the ship. From end 
to end, alow and aloft, she shines like a new pin, 
and reflects great credit on the captain and mate 
for the pains they have taken to get her so. Only 
let us beat the “ Spinney” and the captain will be 
satisfied, although the great delays we have had 
on this side of Cape Horn have wofully disap¬ 
pointed him. Had we doubled our run to that 
point (and we were confident of doing so), last 


144 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Wednesday, die 29th, would have found us made 
fast to a San Francisco wharf When sailors get 
impatient at the delays caused by calms, they have 
various ways of dispelling the charm and releas¬ 
ing the ship. Some believe in sticking a knife in 
the forward side of the mainmast, some in going 
aloft and casting a lock of hair away, and others 
in throwing overboard some article of clothing as 
an offering to old ^olus, the god of the winds. 
The latter way is by far the most popular, and 
during the last week has been liberally practised. 
Old trowsers, shirts, boots, and hats have been 
thrown overboard in profusion, but the total value 
of the lot would not probably exceed twenty-five 
cents. I joined the sacrificing band, and got rid 
of an old pair of slippers and a pair of ragged 
shoes. There is no danger of any one adopting 
the first method. The captain would pass sen¬ 
tence of death on any fellow who stuck a knife in 
the mainmast in its present splendid condition. 

October 28.—Large log covered with barnacles 
and surrounded by dolphins floated by us in the 
afternoon. 

October 29.—Spent the afternoon shooting at 
the gonies with the captain’s rifle. N. G. (No 
gonies and no good.) 

October 30.—To-day the drowned sailor’s chest 
and clothes were sold by auction to the crew. 
The money realized (eight dollars and seventy- 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 145 

five cents) is handed to the United States ship¬ 
ping commissioner at San Francisco, if the ship 
or captain has no claims against the amount. 

The idea of being so close to ’Frisco, where I’ll 
find a bunch of letters, is delightful, but is tinged 
with a slight feeling of anxiety, for I have been 
literally out of the world for four whole months. 


G k 


13 


146 


A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF 


Table for week ending November 9. 

November 3.—Lat. 30° lU N. Run—80 miles. 

Lon. 129° 39^ W. Temp, at noon, 72°. 

Light airs and pleasant. High swell from northwest. Ship rolling 
heavily. 

November 4.—Lat. 31° 26'' N. Run—65 miles. 

Lon. 129° 21"' W. Temp, at noon, 68°. 

Calm at first; gentle breezes later on. Clear and cold. Nautiluses very 
numerous. Gonies ditto, and also very hungry and fierce; caught several 
and let them go. 

November 5.—Lat. 33° 29' N. Run—137 miles. 

Lon. 128° 44^^ W. Temp, at noon, 67°. 

Gentle to moderate breeze. Sea rough. Heavy rain and squalls all 
night. Sea increasing rapidly and very rough. Ship diving in. 

November 6.—Lat. 34° 39^ N. Run—167 miles. 

Lon. 126° 13'' W. Temp, at noon, 61°. 

Variable weather. Wind fresh to very strong. Head-sea, rough and 
ugly. Ship pitching badly. Moderate gale all night. 

November 7.—Lat. 35° 37^ N. Run—134 miles. 

Lon. 124° 01^ W. Temp, at noon, 58°. 

Chilly and raw. Moderate gale all A.M. ; then strong breeze till 10 
p.M. Sea choppy and rough. Short sail. Heavy squalls and stiff winds 
all night. 

November 8.—Lat. 36° 52^ N. Run—119 miles. 

Lon. 123° lo'' W. Temp, at noon, 58°. 

A.M., overcast and damp. Breeze more moderate. Sea lower. p.M., 
heavy gale, with much rain. Tremendous sea from southeast. 

November 9.-LaL 1^01 taken. , | Not taken. 

Lon. J 1 emp. at noon, J 

A.M., thick and rainy. Very high rough sea. Decks constantly flooded. 
Sighted Californian coast at i p.m. All O. K. in San Francisco harbor 
5 P.M. 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 


147 


At Sea, Sunday, November 9. 

November 4.—Gonies about in large numbers; 
hooked about half a dozen and then let them go. 
Also fished up several nautiluses. 

November 6.—Saw a large iron ship, bound 
south; also a small schooner, bound in. The 
latter was having a very wet time of it. A duck 
that had evidently been blown off shore tried to 
get oh board in the afternoon, but failed, as the 
wind was blowing a gale and carried it away to 
leeward. Saw a whale blow to windward at 11 a.m. 

November 8.—12 m., great many gulls about, 
showing our proximity to the coast. During the 
forenoon made anchors ready to let go. Too 
thick and hazy to see land. Made out land very 
dimly at 3.30 p.m. Calm from twelve to four. 
Barometer falling rapidly. At four, wind came 
out moderate from southeast. From 10 p.m. to 
6 A.M., November 9, heavy gale and tremendous 
sea from southeast; raining in torrents and blacker 
than pitch. Ship laboring heavily; split foresail 
during violent squall. During the night were 
within ten miles of San Francisco bar and six 
miles of the coast. 

November 9.—Began with heavy squalls of rain 


A LANDLbBBER'S LOG OF 


148 

and tremendous sea. Ship tossing very badly. 
Weather cold, raw, and foggy. At 7 a.m. saw 
light on South Farallone. At 10 a.m. saw a large 
ship through the fog. A few minutes later fog 
scaled, and we sighted Farallone Islands four 
miles to the northwest. Stood in and made out 
coast at I p.M. Saw pilot-boats coming out at 2 
p.M. Took pilot out of boat No. 10 (the “ Con¬ 
fidence”), and passed Golden Gate at 4.40 p.m., 
just exactly one hundred and twenty-four days 
from Cape May. Ran in harbor, and dropped 
anchor off Telegraph Hill at 5.15 p.m. Were 
boarded by reporter and harbor police, also 
by thirty-seven sailor’s boarding-house runners. 
Found that the “ Spinney” had been in forty- 
eight hours, which makes our passage three days 
the best, and the second best so far of the year. 
On board all night. Were followed in by the 
ship we saw in the morning, an Englishman from 
New South Wales, Australia. 

The storm with which our long voyage was 
brought to a close was oddly enough, while it 
lasted, the fiercest of the whole voyage, and one 
of the most violent ever recorded on the coast of 
California. The barometer sank lower in San 
Francisco than it had for sixteen years, and the 
wind played tremendous havoc among the ship¬ 
ping in the harbor. At i a.m. on the morning of 
the 9th I was awakened by the fearful rolling of 


HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. i^g 

the ship, and slipping on my bad-weather toggery, 
went forward through the cabins, meaning to go 
on the main deck. On forcing open the door 
a volume of water rushed in, upsetting me and 
flooding the forward cabin knee-deep before I 
could get the door closed. Much astonished at 
this unexpected bath, I gained the quarter-deck 
by way of the companion-way, where I found the 
scene a most terrific one; the ship half hidden in 
the clouds of flying spray which the wind whisked 
off the tops of the mountainous waves and drove 
across the swimming decks, was almost completely 
denuded of canvas and looked in more distress 
than I had ever seen her. For a while it looked 
as if we were destined to the delay of having to 
run out to sea again, but after fighting on for 
several hours the gale broke suddenly, and a shift 
of wind rapidly lowered the sea. Then as the 
storm cleared away the wind came out fresh and 
strong from the northwest, a quarter which exactly 
suited us, and so with every rag set and drawing, 
from the courses to the royals, we made our final 
dash in glorious style, passing the Golden Gate 
just as the setting sun burst through the angry 
clouds, and bathed its frowning portals in a flood 
of golden light. 

Thus ends the passage of one hundred and 
twenty-four days. The good ship has done well, 
and although it is much longer than we expected 


A LANDLUBBEJ^'S LOG- 


150 

to be after our fine run to Cape Horn, still the 
passage is decidedly a good one. In no single 
instance has any vessel outsailed us, although we 
have repeatedly come up with and sunk vessels 
astern. On the whole voyage we did not sight a 
steamer. I find on conning over this log that it 
is decidedly rose-colored,—that is to say, I’ve taken 
the best possible look at everything, but have put 
down very few of the inconveniences of life at 
sea, and this fact proves that I’ve enjoyed myself, 
for otherwise I should have taken advantage of 
anything which warranted a growl. Here then I 
stop, letting go anchor in San Francisco harbor. 
May the “ Pactolus” and her officers see many 
more such voyages as this has been, and may I 
find the journey “ ’round the world” as pleasant 
as that around the “ Horn” ! 


THE END. 


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;^ 3 - 50 - 

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Cf 


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